No Tears for Alibis
by Drawn2Danger
Summary: Yugi is seventeen, kind and friendly, yet he's a loner who's lost in his thoughts most of the time. Despite that, he's aware of the crush that Yami Atemu has on him, and isn't sure what to do when the older boy starts to enter his private little world. He'll either allow him in, or kick him out. - Puzzleshipping
1. This is How We Are

The thing I hated most about mornings was waiting for the bathroom to open up. Someone was always in it when I needed it. Mai was either washing her hair and shaving, or Ryou was lathering every inch of his body with soap and checking for facial hair that would never grow. Whatever they were doing, it took forever. It was to the point that by the time it was my turn to use it, I only had time to brush my teeth before I had to leave for school. Not even when I got up early did I get in there first. It just wasn't fair.

"Oh my Ra, Ryou!" I banged on the door with my fist, watching as my multiple bracelets jumped with the movement. "I don't care if you're naked, open the door!"

"I think some dude just grabbed my junk, whoa!"

…and he was singing. Great. That meant that he was purposely ignoring me and wasn't planning on letting me in. He picked up that trick years ago from Mai who always drowns out what we're saying by singing really loudly. Bitch. Just kidding, she was just really annoying.

"It doesn't matter where, I don't care if people stare, cause I feel like dancing tonight!"

I started kicking the door with my foot. "I swear I'll dump all your Sam Cooke records into the ocean if you don't let me in!" Kick. "And your tea!" Kick. "And your lucky red vans!" Kick. "And your autographed poster of - "

My foot swung forward just as the door opened, causing it to hit Ryou in the shin. He sucked in air through his teeth and gave me a weak glare behind his messy white bangs. I noticed that he was already dressed and his hair was dry, which made me wonder what the hell he was doing in there that whole time.

"Sheesh, can't a guy put on lotion without being bothered?" He smiled cheekily, ruffling my already messed up hair. "It's all yours."

I smacked his hand away and swept passed him, giving him an irritated look before I shut the door. As usual, there wasn't a lot of time for me to properly get ready, so I quickly splashed water on my face and brushed my teeth, then hit the light off and left. It was so simple that I really just couldn't understand why my siblings had such a hard time doing it in a short amount of time.

After grabbing my bag from my room, I hurried down the stairs to where I could smell some food being burnt. Mai was probably cooking. She'd always start cooking something then get distracted and leave it to cook for too long. One time she started a fire, but Ryou was quick to put it out with some baking soda. Since then, me and him tried to make the more complicated meals ourselves and just let her get out the drinks.

"Let me guess," I said as I walked into the kitchen. "It's going to be another cereal day, huh?"

Mai spun around on her heels, causing her curly blonde hair to wrap around her neck. She was already dressed for work and had on one of our most feminine cooking aprons. Purple and white seemed to be her color theme for the day.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Toast, actually. It's just about done."

Ryou, who was sitting on the counter, grinned at me knowingly.

"I think it was done a little while ago…" I told her, not even bothering to hide my amusement. "Can't you smell it burning?"

Her violet eyes widened dramatically, and she hurried over to the toaster to see for herself. I didn't even need to see her face to know that she was blushing. The way she fiddled with the dial gave it away. She was practically a tomato by the time the blackened toast popped up.

"Hey, Ryou, we got any fruit loops left?" I asked.

He opened the drawer that was by his feet. "Yep. I'll get the bowls out."

Mai sighed loudly, obviously frustrated. "You know," I said to her. "I think they say burnt toast is good this time of year."

She threw her apron at my face.

* * *

The only bad thing about having a sister who works, and a brother who attends a magnet school, is that they each need a car to get there. So I had to ride from our house to my school on my skateboard. By the way, my skateboard's name is Alexander Dragon. I just felt like it needed to be called something other than just 'skateboard.' Besides, Alexander Dragon didn't look like other skateboards. Instead of the normal black color, he was purple with green wheels, and he was a lot slimmer and smaller. Yeah, he was pretty rad looking.

Once I got to the gate that surrounded Domino High, I put Alexander Dragon into my backpack and went inside. I was thankful that I had decided to wear a long sleeved shirt today because it was freezing in the building. It usually was, but there were some days when it was sweltering hot. I usually had to fan myself with a folder when that happened.

Most people just glanced at me as I walked by, but there was some who sent me a quick wave. I just smiled back and hurried through the halls until I got to my locker. It was covered in black wrapping paper and stars because the pep club decided to decorate all the halls for some reason. Each grade got a unique design on their lockers. I thought the ones we had were pretty boring. I just didn't get what it was supposed to signify.

Shrugging it off, I put my books and Alexander Dragon away, then took out my own copy of _The Catcher in the Rye_. I had already read it more than three times, but I just couldn't get over the way the main character repeated a lot of the same lines. Like, his catchphrases, or whatever. It was just amusing.

I only got through half a chapter before the warning bell rang. People started swarming through the halls, so I got off the floor and headed to my first class of the day. AP Literature. It really wasn't that bad of a class. Today people were just going to be reciting the lines from Shakespeare's_ The Taming of the Shrew_ with their partners in front of the class, without looking at their books. I chose to do a monologue for mine, and I recited it last week, so I didn't have to worry about memorizing my lines before class began.

The dialogues went by pretty quickly, and before I knew it, class was over. It was funny to hear everyone whisper about how nervous they were, and how they couldn't believe they forgot a line or two. I couldn't help but feel smug because I didn't forget any of my lines.

So the day went on like that. I went from class to class until it was finally time for first lunch, which I always had. I felt bad for the people who had second lunch because they basically just got the scraps from our lunch. Oh well.

I bought two slices of pizza, some fries, and a soda. Healthy, right? I took my food and sat with a group of girls who used to wave me over to come sit with them at the beginning of freshmen year. Even now, as juniors, they happily save a chair for me every day. I don't know why, really. It's not like we were friends or anything. Though they did often try to get me to talk with them. Like right now, for example.

"Hey Yugi," the girl with long brown hair, Sakame, greeted. She gave me a mischievous look, then stole one of my fries. "How was your weekend?"

Don't pout. Don't pout. It was just one fry for Pete's sake! "Pretty good," I told her. "How was yours?"

So then her and all the other girls started discussing what they did, and told all the funny things that happened to them. Sometimes I listened to what they were saying, and sometimes I just zoned out. I had a pretty bad habit of day dreaming out of the blue. Especially if someone was talking to me for a long time.

"I don't know if I should cut my hair or not," one of the girls said. It took a lot of effort on my part for me to remember most of their names. "What do you think, Yugi? Would I look cute with short hair, or should I just let it grow longer?"

I stopped picking at the cheese on my pizza and looked at her. She had dark red hair, a fair face, and brown eyes. Yeah, she was pretty, but if I were to go for her then she would need to change her gender. Girls just never appealed to me. I liked boys. Especially ones with strong looking arms. I don't know, call me a weirdo, but strong looking arms were just an attractive feature that I liked.

"I think about here," I pointed to the space just above my shoulder, "would make you look more mature. Maybe with some bangs too," I added as an afterthought.

She looked satisfied with my answer, so I went back to picking all the cheese off my pizza. I couldn't stand too much cheese. It took way too long to chew, so I just took it off.

The rest of lunch went by semi-quickly. The girls all waved me goodbye when the bell rang, and I threw my food away, with the exception of my soda. I had pre calculus next and my teacher wouldn't mind if I drank it in there. Well, more like she wouldn't notice me drinking it. Sneaky Yugi.

On my way to class I nearly got run over by a hyperactive girl named Mana. She was always bouncing around, chattering to people. She never spoke to me, but we came across each other in the hall a lot. She would just give me this super huge grin and act as though she knew something I didn't. It was pretty weird, but I just smiled softly back at her.

It wasn't until three classes later that I could finally go home. I didn't even have to ride Alexander Dragon back because Ryou always picked me up after school. He got out of his last class twenty minutes before mine, so he always had enough time to drive over. Unless traffic was bad, then I'd have to sit around in the halls for a while, but that wouldn't be the case for today.

Humming contently to myself, I packed my homework and Alexander Dragon into my bag, then headed out the front doors. Some freshman was sliding down the stairway rails and nearly fell off. It reminded me of the time Ryou and I were sliding down the railways at one of Mai's volleyball games, and I lost my balance and landed on my head. I blacked out, and Ryou didn't even notice that I fell until I came back around and told him. So I was pretty sure that I would never slide down rails again.

Looking around, I spotted Ryou's car parked by a tree. I ran over and jumped into the passengers side, not surprised that he was listening to some pop punk band. He turned it down to a tolerable volume.

"Hey cutie pie, how was your day?" He asked in a really feminine voice, making me laugh.

"Well, I did drugs, ditched third period and smoked instead, then gurgled some vodka at lunch."

It was funny because I had never done any of these things. I thought drugs were stupid. Smoking just ended up killing you, so that was stupid too. Alcohol tasted disgusting. Plus, I think it's sad that people have to get drunk to have fun. I could have fun just by destroying Bowser and his castle. No need to give myself a killer headache and possibly injure or kill myself.

Ryou laughed. "Good. That's exactly what I expected of you." His eyes flickered to something outside of my window. He shifted a little, his teasing mood suddenly gone.

"What are you looking at?" I asked, trying to see what had his interest. He never bothered to look at something for too long if it wasn't important.

"That guy, over there," he pointed. "Do you know him?"

I followed his finger with my eyes and came across the sight of two familiar faces. One of them was that Mana girl. The real hyper chick with brown hair and blue eyes. She was tugging on her friends arm and looking at our car in a pretty obvious manner. Her friend, the other familiar face, was a guy in my grade named Yami.

He was a real good looking guy who I'd often hear people talking about in the halls. He wasn't popular, per say, but he definitely stole a few girls hearts with his looks. He had crazy ebony colored hair that was tinted at the ends in magenta. Then he had some blonde bangs going through the ebony and some that framed his face. Yami had unusual garnet colored eyes that were sharp, yet slanted. He looked to be about the same height as me, surprisingly, but I hadn't stood close enough to him to tell.

"Yeah, I know who he is, why?"

"It's just," Ryou tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. "Every day I see him standing in that very spot, and he'll kind of just stare at the ground. But then he starts looking at the school doors a few minutes before you usually come out."

I glanced back out the window to where Yami was and noticed how he glanced in our cars direction, then quickly looked back to Mana. It was like his neck was on repeat. Car. Mana. Car. Oooh the sky! Now back to Mana. Wait, now the car!

"Then you come out and he watches you until you get in the car. He'll look away for a few seconds before looking back here. Coincidence? I think not!"

"Oh," I shrugged. "Maybe he just thinks we have a cool car, or something."

Ryou snorted and slugged me playfully on the shoulder. "The hell he does! Why would he be interested in this piece of junk? The back window is cracked, that one door doesn't close all the way, and there's a dent the size of Mai's boobs in it!"

"Maybe he's thinking, 'man I wish I could trash my car like that.'"

"Who in their bloody right minds would want to damage their car?" Ryou exclaimed.

"I don't know, I mean, there's people who like to set things on fire. He could be some special case who feels the need to wreck automobiles."

"Well then, remind me to never go near him with my future Ferrari."

Right. Like Ryou could ever afford a car like that.

"No, but seriously, I do know why he does that," I said.

Ryou's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Mhmm," I nodded. "It's cause he likes me."

I wish I had a camera to take a picture of his expression. He looked like a stunned hamster or something. Priceless.

"What? Are you serious?"

"For real."

He grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me. "How do you know? You've got to tell me! Oh boy, wait till I tell Mai! She's going to have a cow!"

"Ow, you're hurting my neck!" I whined.

He instantly let go and looked and me with his big chocolate eyes. I was always surprised how he could be a little hell spawn one second, and a freaking angel the next. He would make a really good manipulator.

"Hurry and tell me so we can go home! I've been holding my pee all day and I'm about to burst!"

"Well go ahead and start driving, you idiot! I can just tell you on the way home."

"Oh, right," He grinned sheepishly and pulled out of the parking lot. "Now tell big brother Ryou all about the crush that guy has on you."

"When you say it like that it makes me not want to tell you."

"Just do it!" Ryou slapped the wheel impatiently.

"Okay, gees," I rested my elbow on the car door, trying to recall my memories of him. "I've caught him staring at me a few times, and he always looks away and blushes as bright as a firetruck." Ryou laughed and nudged my shoulder. "And sometimes in the mornings, when I'm reading a book by my locker, I'll see him stop a few lockers away from me, and he looks like he's going to say something, but then he blushes and runs into the bathroom. So I just figured he either has a crush on me, or he's extremely awkward."

"This is so exciting!" Ryou smiled. "It sounds like he keeps losing the nerve to say something to you."

"I guess so," I laughed. I couldn't see why anyone would have to think twice about talking to me. I was never mean to anyone, and always acknowledged someone when they talked to me. I was never in the middle of drama, nor was I the one causing it. I just kept to myself for the most part. Shouldn't I be the nervous one who's scared to talk to people? It's not like I had a lot of practice being actively social with anyone other then my siblings.

"I guess it's not too surprising though." Ryou glanced at me. "I mean, no one really knows anything about you. It's not like he can just go up to you and expect to have a successful conversation. For all he knows, you might bite his head off just for saying hi."

"So what? Are you suggesting that I should be the one to talk to him?" I asked, not totally displeased with the idea. It just bugged me that I came off as unapproachable to Yami. I considered myself a nice guy. I'll admit, I'm a little weird, but still nice!

"Shit! We may have to pull off the road, I don't know if I can hold it!" Ryou looked at me pleadingly. My gosh his eyes could look so innocent! So that's where I picked it up from…

"By all means, go ahead," I rolled my eyes. "It's not like we're just a few blocks away from our house, or anything." Sarcasm was my friend.

Ryou ignored my tone and pulled off into the grass. He jumped out of the car and ran behind some bushes. I flipped through the different stations while I waited, still thinking about what Ryou said. What kind of person did Yami see me as? And wait, why did I care what he thought of me? I never cared about peoples opinions of me. So why…

"Whew!" Ryou jumped back in the car. "Sorry I took so long! This bird was watching me and it was making me nervous."

"It probably thought you were holding a hotdog," I grinned.

Ryou turned to push me, but I flung myself away from him. "Don't touch me, don't touch me! You haven't washed your hands yet!" I squealed.

He raised his eyebrow and rummaged around in his pocket before pulling out a small bottle of hand sanitizer. Right. Sometimes I forgot how much of a germ freak he was.

* * *

A/N - It feels good to be starting another story! I swear, my updates will not be as slow as last time. I've been in a really good creative writing mood lately, so I'm hoping it's going to last for a while.

If you liked this chapter then please give me some feedback in the review section. I'd love to know your opinions on it, whether they be good or bad. I really like criticism because it helps me improve my writing.

The song that Ryou was singing in the bathroom is called: I Feel Like Dancing by All Time Low


	2. Makeup Challenge

The next morning was a little hectic. Mai was yelling at her boyfriend through the phone, causing her booming voice to echo through the house. She was pacing from the kitchen to the den like a pissed off lioness, trying, yet failing, to pick things up around the house as she did. Ryou was casually watching the food channel which further ticked Mai off because he was supposed to be helping her clean the downstairs.

Our mom was coming to visit sometime tomorrow and Mai always liked to get the house all dolled up for her. The only problem was, Ryou usually did everything in his power to not be helpful in any way, or he would make the house look worse, and trash it behind Mai's back. He didn't like our mom and he didn't want anything to do with her. He disliked her for a mildly decent reason though

See, Mai, Ryou, and me all have the same mom, but we all have different dads. Mai was the only one who knew her dad because he wanted to get to know her. Ryou's dad didn't mean to knock our mom up in the first place, so he cut off all connections with her and with him. I came about from a one night stand, so it was pretty obvious that I didn't know my 'dad.'

The point is, Ryou didn't like our mom because he thought that she was a slut. I'm not even kidding. He had zero respect for her. He was cold as ice whenever she was around, and I could tell that he didn't like our mom being around me. Ryou would always try to get me out of the house as much as possible whenever she was visiting. I didn't ever try to protest because I knew that he felt as though he was protecting me, so I just let him do what he wanted. Besides, I'd choose Ryou over our mom any day.

"Yugi, get your ass to school!" Mai shouted during a pause in her conversation.

Bleh.

* * *

Apparently, there was a surprise pep rally before break today. I didn't really care because it meant that our classes were five minutes shorter. I lived for days with short classes. It didn't seem like much of a difference, but I could tell.

So after second period I followed everyone into the gym where the rally would be taking place. I wasn't exactly sure what the whole thing was about. I don't think anyone did. We all just walked to our grade designated bleachers and waited to see what would happen. Some music was playing and there were newly made posters plastered against the walls, though I was too far away to read what they said. It was about five minutes later before the school's activity planner, Mrs. Mazaki, took the microphone and started shouting cheerfully into it.

"Good morning Domino High! How are you guys doing today?"

Only the freshmen and half of the seniors answered her with a bunch of hooting. They were the only two grades who ever tried, because the seniors wanted to be the best, and the freshmen were the underdogs, so they thought they had to show everyone up.

"Great! Well, as you all probably know, we have a few grade schools visiting today, so we decided to show them how much fun we have at Domino High! What better way then a pep rally?"

Oh, I could think of five things off the top of my head that would be better than this. Nobody liked pep rally's. Especially when it was still so early in the morning. Those grade school kids were going to run for the hills once we were through here.

"Alright, can I get my girls up here?" Mrs. Mazaki waved to a group of people who were waiting by the door. Once they stepped more into the light I realized that they were either pep club members, or captains of the girls sports teams. Each one of them was carrying a small bag that was just a little bigger than their palm.

"As you can see, the girls are all carrying cosmetic bags full of… makeup!"

I seriously never would have guessed. Just what the hell was going on?

"Each girl is going to pick two people from each grade. The two people will sit in chairs opposite of each other, and one of them will be blindfolded. The person who is not blindfolded will have their makeup done by the blindfolded person. They will have five minutes to put on face, eye, and lip makeup. Whoever does the most accurate and neat job will be the winner."

Oh this was going to be hilarious. I could hear half the girls whining about not wanting to be a part of it because they didn't want to mess up the makeup they already had on. The other half of the girls, and most of the boys, were all raising their hands to participate.

Mrs. Mazaki laughed. "Alright, girls, go pick two people from your grade."

I looked at the girl walking towards the juniors and was slightly surprised to see that it was Mana. She had the most gleeful expression on her face and I instantly knew why right after she reached into the crowd and pulled Yami out. Of course. Humiliating your friend was always a good way to go about things. I almost laughed at the look he gave her.

My good mood suddenly turned sour when Mana's blue eyes locked onto mine, and I swear, she cackled. I swear it so hard!

"Yugi!" She yelled through her cupped hands. She held out her tanned hand to me and I couldn't do anything but stare at it dumbly. Was this chick crazy? There was no way I was getting or putting makeup on! I refused.

"Woo-hoo! Go Yugi!" People cheered my name and pushed me out of my seat towards the happy grinning Mana. Once I was in arms length of her, she snagged my shoulder in an iron grip and pulled me to the other side of the gym.

I felt like I was walking like a crippled chicken. My legs weren't working properly at all and my heart was pounding way too fast. Holy hell I did not want to do this in front of the whole school. This was just downright embarrassing.

Mana pushed me into the chair that was on the left and Yami sat down in the other one. Right. I momentarily forgot that he was my partner in this. The good thing was that he looked just as nervous as I felt.

"Okay!" Mana shoved her cosmetic bag into my hand. "Yugi, you're going to be blindfolded and Yami is going to be the canvas."

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…

Without warning, Mana bunched up a white shirt and tied it around my eyes. I fiddled with the cosmetic bag nervously. Holy crap my hands were shaking so bad. Luckily, the zipper on the bag was already undone.

"Is everyone ready?" Mrs. Mazaki asked. I guess Mana and the others gave the affirmative. "Alright… you have five minutes. And your time starts… now!"

Was it bad that I could literally feel the blood pumping through my arms? Come on, Mutou, focus!

"Hey," an unfamiliar voice said. "Don't worry about doing a good job. I don't mind if you scribble all over my face." Oh, it was Yami. Wow, his voice was kind of deep.

"O-okay…" I said unsurely.

You're fine, you're fine. I kept chanting that in my head as I rummaged through the bag. What was that stuff Mai constantly ran out of? The face stuff? Face stuff! I grasped a bottle type thing and assumed that was the first thing that would have to go on. I quickly unscrewed the cap and squirted some on my hands.

"Is this enough?" I asked.

"I mean, I guess so…" Yami said. "I've never done this before, so I don't really know."

Right, Yami was a guy. Oh well. Guess I'd just wing it then. I reached my hands out and patted the air, trying to find him. "Where's your face?"

"Here," his hands clasped around my wrists and brought them forward.

I almost jumped back when I suddenly felt his skin underneath my hands. I started feeling around trying to figure out where his nose and other facial features were. While I was doing that, Yami was trying not to laugh.

"You need to start rubbing the stuff on," he said.

My mouth ran ahead of my mind and I heard myself saying, "Bitch, who's the makeup artist here?"

My hands, which were on his cheeks, slid down to his chin as he threw his head back and let out a loud laugh. I was kind of surprised because most people got offended by my humor. Whenever I said things like that I was just being playful. I liked how he knew I wasn't serious.

"Sorry," I could tell he was smiling by the tone he used. "I guess I forgot my place for a second."

I grinned back at him. "Well, since you apologized I guess you're redeemed. Now come here so I can make you look like a bruised apple."

Before he could say anything I smeared my hands all around his face, not caring that I was going over his eyelids, or over his mouth. The whole time I was rubbing the stuff in he was making small unhappy noises. It was pretty darn amusing.

"Okay, I think I'm done with that," I reached back into the bag and felt an object that was thin on the top and bottom and fat in the middle. Must be eye stuff. Mai was always putting it on in the car.

With my messy hands I unscrewed the cap and felt the bristle at the end.

"What's that for?" Yami asked.

I started grasping for his face again and found his cheekbone. My hand slithered upwards until I found the hollow of his eye.

"You may want to shut your eyes," I warned before I starting brushing the bristle in upward motions over his eye. Or maybe it was his eyelid. Who knows.

"Ow…" he whined. "That hurts!"

"That means it's working!" My hand slipped and I ended up smearing the stick across his temple and down his jaw. "Trust me, you're going to look like Lady Gaga on one of her good days."

"I'm going to?" He asked. "You mean I don't already?"

I put the eye stick away. "I mean, there's just so much work to be done." I reached in the bag and felt a smaller tube. Okay, I knew that this was lipstick. I was hoping it was bright red. "You're like that girl from The Princess Diaries. Mia. We can only go up from here."

Yami snorted. "Are you calling me ugly?"

I gripped his chin and ran my thumb over his lips. Huh. They were really soft. He must be a chapstick kind of guy. "Who said anything about being ugly? Shame on you for assuming things! And pucker up!"

I could tell he was trying not to open his mouth as I rubbed the lipstick on his lips. Most of it was off mark, so it ended up going past the corners and onto his cheeks.

"Blegh!" He started making spitting sounds. "You got it in my teeth!"

I laughed and put the lipstick away. "Yami, we have to make it look like you're a bloodsucking vampire. Girls dig that kind of stuff, you know?" I winked, but then remembered that the cloth was over my eyes so he couldn't see.

"I thought you were making me look like Lady Gaga?"

I reached back in the bag, but didn't feel anything else. "She's the head of the vampires. I thought everyone knew that. Wow, you're just not with the times."

He laughed again and I couldn't help but love how he just went along with all the crazy shit I was talking about. I was actually surprised how comfortable it felt to joke around with him when I had never even talked to him before.

"Time's up!" Mrs. Mazaki yelled so suddenly that I jumped in surprise.

I eagerly reached for my blindfold and pulled it off, hissing slightly as light once again entered my vision. I blinked a few times until I could see, then looked over to Yami. I nearly fell off my chair laughing.

"Ahaha!"

Yami crossed his arms over his chest and pretended to look annoyed. I could see his lips twitching in amusement though. He really did look ridiculous. His face was a completely different shade from his neck, the black eye makeup made him look like a raccoon that had been crying, and the lipstick made him look like the Joker.

"Yami! You look better than you have in years!" Mana said from behind us. Her smile was impossibly wide. "You should do his makeup every day, Yugi."

I laughed, "Only if you pay me."

It was then that our art teacher came over with her camera. She motioned for us all to get together while she readied her very expensive looking Cameron for the shot. Mana yanked me to her side and put one arm around my back, then did the same to Yami on her other side.

"Say cheese ladies and gentleman."

I nearly bust a gut that she had just called Yami a girl. That just made my day. As if that wasn't good enough, we won the award in the competition for: Worst Makeup Job.

* * *

At dinner I told Mai and Ryou all about the pep rally and how I got to put makeup on Yami. Mai thought it was hilarious because she couldn't imagine me even knowing what would go where on a face. She joked that she could teach me later if I wanted. Yeah, no thank you.

Ryou found it amusing, but he was even more interested about the fact that Yami, as in the guy we had talked about yesterday, was my partner. All throughout dinner he kept fluttering his eyelashes and making kissy faces at me. I was about to stab him with a fork, but he was lucky because the doorbell went off before I could.

"I'll get it," Mai muttered as she placed her dishes by the sink.

Ryou shot me a curious look and I just shrugged. Was it our mom? Did she decide to come a day early or something? The door opened.

"Joey Wheeler, what the hell are you doing here?"

Oh, it was just Mai's boyfriend.

"No," Ryou whined, thumping his head against the table. "He's going to eat all of our leftovers."

That was the truth. I don't think I've ever seen someone eat as much as Mai's boyfriend. He had a pit for a stomach and usually raided our fridge whenever he came over. It drove Ryou up a wall because then he'd have to go out and buy more groceries. Mai just commented on how it was disgusting how he ate, and I just shrugged it off. I mean, what else can you do when a hungry blonde comes into your home and is determined to empty out your whole pantry.

"You have a lot of nerve coming over here after what you said to me on the phone this morning!" Mai shouted.

Ugh, I hated it when they were fighting. They were both so loud that you could hear them from every part of the house. It's like they wanted me and Ryou to know all about their problems.

"I know," Joey said. He sounded sheepish. "I came to apologize to you. I got you these, too."

He probably got her flowers or something. That kiss up.

So, basically, for the next ten minutes there was a lot of yelling and then a lot of apologizing. The whole time it was going on, me and Ryou were flicking ice cubes at each other. I got a good shot at his forehead and he got my ear. It hurt like hell because I had two studs in.

"You idiots!" Mai interrupted a few seconds later. "The ice is melting all over the floor!"

I looked over my shoulder and saw her and Joey in the doorway. Mai was holding some kind of flowers. They weren't roses or anything, that was for sure. In fact… the stems of the flowers were all uneven. Really. Did Joey seriously rip them out of a random garden? Oh well, Mai probably noticed anyways.

Joey skirted around her and thumped me on the shoulder, hard. I swear I heard my neck crack.

"Hey, Yug. How you been doin?" He asked. Sometimes his accent slurred his words so much that it was hard for me to understand him.

I tried to smile at him. "Alright, I guess."

I noticed him eyeing my studs and the leather buckled collar I wore around my neck. He really didn't like them. He used to tease me about wearing them all the time, saying that real men would never wear jewelry. He didn't consider me a 'man.'

Joey used to try and get me to fight him. He would take my stuff and wouldn't give it back unless I tried to take it from him. I think he even made me cry at one point. That's when Ryou got fed up with it all and he literally punched Joey in the face, saying, "You leave my kid brother alone! He doesn't need to prove himself to you! He's just being who he wants to be and you're trying to mold him into someone he's not! So you better quit bullying him around or else I'll rip off **your** manhood and sell it on the black market!"

Simply put, Joey never messed with me again. And he was super wary of Ryou now.

* * *

A/N - Thanks to everyone who reviewed on the last chapter. Love ya'll tons!


	3. Everybody Lies

Today was the day that our mom would be coming over. Mai said she was supposed to be here by the time I got out of school. I could tell Ryou was already dreading it. He was being quiet and fidgety which was unlike him, so I couldn't help but feel worried about him.

"Yugi," Mai called for me from the other room.

I finished pulling on my maroon tank top and black jeans before heading downstairs to find her. She was looking in the hallway mirror, putting in her white dangle earrings. They matched her white skirt and purple top.

"Yeah? Did you want something?" I asked.

She pointed to a bundle on the floor. "Take that poncho with you to school. I think it's going to rain, so you might want it to keep dry."

I stared at it for the longest time. "But it's pink," I said.

"So?" She scooped it up and pushed it at my chest. "I accidentally turned all of Ryou's boxers pink and he's not complaining."

"That's because he wears pants over them. No one can see them."

Mai rolled her eyes. "Yugi, it's just a color. It's not going to melt into your skin and kill you."

"Wrong," I threw it back at her. "I'll be so embarrassed that blood will rush into my cheeks, turning them pink, and then I'll die of humiliation. See, you didn't think this through."

She was already walking away, leaving the poncho behind on the floor.

"Fine, be a dumb ass and get wet. Don't come whining to me when you catch a cold."

Yeah right. I once spent two hours in the rain and I never got sick. I was pretty convinced that the whole getting sick from the rain was just a myth. It's not even winter yet, so the air wasn't even cold.

I was mulling this over in my head until I heard Ryou coming down the stairs. He looked tired. I don't think he got a lot of sleep last night.

"Hey," he smiled drowsily. "Why are you still hanging around here? Shouldn't you have left already?"

I kicked the poncho off to the side. "Uh… it's about to rain," I said meekly.

He glanced out the window, looking at the sky. He sighed. "I guess I can give you a lift."

I smiled gratefully and gave him a hug. "Thanks, Ryou!"

He squeezed me back for a few seconds and then let go. "Let's blow this popsicle stand."

* * *

To say I was surprised to see Mana sitting in front of my locker, playing a handheld videogame, would be an understatement. I was downright baffled. In fact, I think my brain disconnected briefly because all I could do for fifteen seconds was stare at her. She didn't even notice I was there.

Finally, after I pulled myself together, I walked to my locker, noticing how she scooted over to give me some room. I glanced down at her game and saw that she was playing Mario. Good choice.

After putting all my stuff away I debated on what to do next. I usually just sat here and read my book until class started, but she was here so…

"Yugi, help me get past this part!" Mana said suddenly, grabbing my wrist and pulling me down beside her. I grunted in discomfort as she forced me to huddle next to her.

"He keeps throwing shells at me!" She exclaimed.

She shoved the device into my hands and leaned into my side, keeping her eyes focused on the screen. I couldn't help but smile at how childish she looked with her pouting lips and scrunched up eyes.

"Uh…" I un-paused the game. "You just pick up a shell and throw it at him… see?" I had Mario do just that.

Mana snatched the game back. "Whoa! How did you do that? Yami never showed me how!"

So, I'm not really sure why, but for the next twenty minutes I ended up helping her get through the levels. Whenever she got to a tricky part then she would hand it to me and demand that I show her how to get through. It was actually kind of fun to just watch her play and listen to her talk to Mario as if he was a real person. It was especially funny when she ended up getting killed because she would start cussing at the thing that had made her lose a life.

Yet, eventually, the bell for first period went off and the fun came to an end. Mana put the game away and stood.

"Thanks for helping me out, Yugi! We should do this again sometime!" She surprised me by hugging me. I awkwardly returned the favor. "How about tomorrow morning? Is that okay?" She gasped and grabbed my shoulders, grinning widely. "I can bring Yami and he can bring his Nintendo, and you can bring one if you have one! I-I mean," she tugged at a lock of her hair, suddenly looking nervous. "If you want to, that is."

I wasn't really sure what to say. On one hand, I kind of liked having someone to hang out with in the morning, but on the other hand, I wasn't too sure about this becoming a normal thing. Then again, it's not like we had to 'hang out' every morning. I wasn't even sure why Mana was here in the first place. I know we kind of had a fun moment yesterday with the makeup and all, but just joking around with her and Yami didn't qualify them as friends, did it? I never even had a friend. How did you know if you were friends with someone? Sheesh, all this thinking was giving me a headache. I guess I'd just ask Ryou about it later.

I gave Mana a reassuring smile. "Sure, tomorrows fine. I'll bring my Nintendo. Tell Yami I plan to whip his ass."

Mana nudged me in the ribs, giving me a mischievous look. "Whip it with what?"

Excuse me? Did she just take what I said and make it perverted? Did this chick know I was gay?

Two could play at this game! "That's for me to know and for him to find out. Cause, you know, I like making my opponents squirm." I added innocently.

She giggled. "I can't wait to mention it to him."

After a few more teasing comments she gave me another quick hug before disappearing into the flow of students. I gathered my stuff together and left for my first class as well. Things seemed to slow down as the day progressed on. I found myself yawning a lot, but I didn't know why.

By the time lunch rolled around I wasn't all that hungry either. I just got an apple juice, a bag of chips, and a muffin. I finished them off pretty quickly and spent the rest of the time with my chin resting on my folded arms, listening to what the girls were talking about. Some of them mentioned the makeup thing from yesterday and commented on how funny I looked trying to find Yami's face.

"It was so cute!" The redhead said. "He started blushing when he grabbed your hands and helped you!"

Well, can you blame him? I mean, I was freaking out the second Mana called my name. He was probably just as embarrassed as I was. I didn't say that to them though. I just smiled lazily and played with my now empty apple juice bottle. The rest of lunch dragged on slowly.

* * *

"Hey," Ryou greeted as I climbed into the car. He was listening to some weird techno station. It was kind of catchy though. "That guy and that girl are looking over here again."

I raised my head and looked out the window, seeing Mana and Yami in the same spot they were in the other day. Mana smiled once she realized my attention was on them. She started waving like crazy. I was scared she was going to whack Yami in the face.

Yami placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her. Then he quirked his lips and gave a short little wave of his own.

"Aw, look, they're communicating," Ryou said, starting the car.

I had enough time to smile at them both before Ryou pulled out of the parking lot. He turned on his blinker and got into the left lane. I shut off the radio.

"Where are you going?" I asked. The right lane was the one that took us home.

"What?" He said innocently. "Can't we just stop and pick up a few root beers from Tigermart?"

What the hell? Tigermart was on the other side of town. It would take us thirty minutes to get there and thirty minutes to get back. And for root beer? I didn't even know Ryou liked to drink it. He was more of a Dr. Pepper kind of guy.

"Ryou," I sighed knowingly. "You can't avoid seeing mom forever. Sure, you can put it off, but she's still going to be there when we get back. Besides, she's by herself and she's waiting on us. Mai won't be off work until five, so we shouldn't make her sit around by herself."

"Fine," Ryou snapped, his grip tightening on the wheel. "If you want to see her so badly then I'll take you to see her." He jerked the car so fast my head nearly collided with the window.

"Watch it, you idiot! Are you crazy?" I shouted at him. "Calm the hell down, or pull over!"

"What? You don't want her to be alone, so I'm taking you to her!"

He started weaving between cars and they honked at us as we sped by. I gripped the handle next to my head and locked my door.

"For Pete's sake, you're going to cause a wreck! Are you trying to kill me?" I couldn't help but yell at him. He was rarely irrational, but when he was it was scary. It was a lot harder to get through to him because his emotions were practically blinding his common sense. It was worse when he started to snap at me. He only ever yelled at me when he was stressed or extremely annoyed.

"Ryou!"

He glared at me and merged onto the interstate. Great. Now he wasn't even driving back to our house. He was just going in some random direction. I eyed the dial and noticed that he was starting to hit eighty. He started changing lanes and he wasn't even checking his blind spots first.

I could feel my heart racing and my hands were shaking something fierce. I was panicking. Holy hell he was going to kill us!

"Ryou!" I placed my hand onto his shoulder and squeezed it. I hated how my voice sounded all weak and vulnerable. "Ryou, you're scaring me."

It took a second, but his body seemed to jerk with realization and he turned to look at me with wide eyes. I almost screamed when the car started to drift into another lane. I knew a truck was coming up behind us.

"Shit!" I grabbed the wheel and turned it just in time to avoid causing a collision. I didn't let go until Ryou turned his attention back to the road. My blood was pounding in my head and my hands were slick with sweat. They were still shaking a little.

We were both quiet after that. Ryou managed to get over and pull off at the next exit. I didn't know where the hell we were, but I didn't really care. My adrenaline was starting to wear off and I was beginning to feel the same tiredness I had felt earlier. I laid my head against the door, enjoying how the window chilled the side of my face.

We ended up stopping at a gas station. Ryou pulled into a space and jumped out of the car. He disappeared inside for a good six minutes. There wasn't a lot going through my head while he was gone. I just felt stunned, but in a tired sort of way. I hardly moved when Ryou got back in the truck.

I wasn't surprised when he just sat there, not even bothering to start the car. He just looked straight ahead with a conflicted expression. Guilt. It was hitting him in waves. He was looking for something to say, but everything was slipping through his fingers.

I shifted to get a better look at him. "It's okay," I mumbled quietly. "It happens."

His shoulders tensed up and he turned his sad gaze on me. "But it shouldn't have," he whispered. His hand fiddled with a loose string on his shirt. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

I was feeling too sluggish to smile properly, so I just settled with a lopsided grin. "Don't worry about it," I undid my buckle and opened the door. "Come on, I'll drive us back home."

He stared at me for a few moments longer before he crawled into the passenger seat. "Thanks, Yugi."

I buckled myself in to where he had just been sitting, realizing that I didn't have my license with me. Oh well. Guess I'd just have to make sure we didn't get caught.

* * *

I think we were both feeling a little better once we got home. Of course, our mom being there was still an issue, but I don't think Ryou was worrying about it too much. He had been pretty quiet on the whole ride back. I had to turn the radio on because the quiet felt unnatural between us. It was only a temporary quiet though. I knew we'd be back to normal by tomorrow.

"I'll distract her so you can sneak up to your room," I told him once we were inside the house.

Ryou looked relieved. "Thanks, Yugi. I'll go set your stuff up in my room."

Oh yeah. I forgot that I would be sharing a room with him while our mom was here. She always used my room when she was visiting. It always smelt like super sweet perfume after she left. Guess I'd need to ask Mai to go buy one of those scent plug in things.

"Mom?" I called loudly, walking further into the house. I could hear the TV playing, so I assumed that she was in the den. Pretty much all the lights were off, so that was weird. We usually left the kitchen light on during the day. Either mom liked to sit in total darkness, or she was trying to save our electric bill.

I decided to call for her again. "Mom?" Again, there was no answer. I was really starting to wonder where she was. Maybe she stepped out of the house for a bit? No, her car was parked in the driveway. Huh. Maybe she was sitting out on the small porch we had in the back. I was on my way to go check, when all of a sudden, I heard Ryou scream. It made my blood crawl.

"Ryou!" I yelled in alarm, already charging my way up the stairs. I swear I was going to have a heart attack if he didn't stop doing all these unpredictable things. I swear I was! My mind was racing too fast for the second time in a day. Already I was thinking of the worst scenarios in my head. Did some guy break into our house and pull a gun on him? Did he see a spider? Was he just screaming out some of his frustration? Holy hell my head was spinning from thinking too much.

By the time I reached the top of the stairs I saw him sitting on the ground, looking shocked and disgusted at the same time. He was staring into my room, or my door to be precise, and I couldn't even explain how his expression managed to send chills down my spine.

I knelt down by his side and was taken by surprise when he grabbed my shoulder and yanked me back up to my feet. I tried to protest, to ask what the hell he was doing, and why the hell did he scream, but the look he gave me made my voice die in my throat. He went right up to my door and pushed it open.

Confused, I looked inside to see what had him all worked up, and I swear, my heart dropped to my stomach. Something in my mind just clouded over completely. I couldn't function. My thoughts were like a fish laying on the bank, flipping and struggling to get back to the water. Where was the air? My gosh why did it feel like someone had just whacked a bat into my stomach and knocked all the air out of me?

"You see, Yugi…" Ryou said in such a faint voice. It was like the hamster in his brain got caught in the motion of the wheel and it was spinning round and round, without any way to stop. His fish was just as out of the water as mine was. "You see why I hate her…" he gulped loudly. "I told you she was a slut. I told you…"

I shook my head slowly, in disbelief. I was staring into my moms horrified purple eyes. Her dark hair was splayed around her flushed heart shaped face, falling over her naked chest. My gaze slowly shifted to the dark blue eyes of the naked man who laid beside her. I could hardly make out his face from my tears which were brought about from shock

"Yugi…" Our mom adjusted my sheets around her chest, trying to cover up as much as possible. She looked stunned beyond comprehension. "It's not… I…" she stumbled over her words, the man beside her not offering any help.

I shook my head back and forth slowly, as if my neck was weighed down by ice. My voice came out gravelly and strangled. "Get out," I said. Man did I feel tired. "Both of you, just get out."

We stared at each other for the longest time. She looked like she wanted to argue, but the fight in her died instantly. She knew she didn't have a right to defend herself. All she could do was dip her head down low in shame. "Okay," she whispered. "Okay. We'll go…"

I stepped away from the door, so that I wouldn't have to see them get dressed. It didn't take them long to get ready, but it felt like an eternity had passed before they gathered up the luggage they brought, and walked out the door.

As soon as we heard their engine start up, Ryou wrapped his arms around me, and we both crumpled to the floor. He pressed my head to his shoulder and laid his head on top of mine. His hair was tickling my face, but I didn't have the energy to brush it away. I didn't have the energy to do anything, really.

"We'll be just fine," he said as he rocked us both back and forth. "We'll get along like we always do. We'll do what we did before this happened…"

I wasn't sure who he was trying to convince. Me or himself.

* * *

A/N - There was some light stuff in this chapter and then there was some really heavy stuff. I know you guys are waiting for the puzzleshipping, but you've got to be patient. Remember, Yugi and Yami aren't even friends yet. They can't just build a relationship off of nothing. I promise there will be a lot more interaction between them in the next chapter.

Also, to the guest reviewer who goes by **sakurasarai**, to answer your question: Yugi does not have any close friends. He does have a few acquaintances though. Like the girls he eats lunch with, for example.

Please leave a comment in the review section. I'd love to read your thoughts on this chapter.


	4. Budding Friendships

"Yugi…" Mai shook my shoulder, her manicured nails almost digging into my skin.

Sighing quietly, I pulled myself into a sitting position, making sure not to rock the bed too much, so as to not wake Ryou up. He was in the same curled up position I had seen him in before I dozed off.

After I had gotten over my shock from the whole… situation, I dragged both of us to his room to lie down for a bit. We were both so emotionally drained that we had no trouble falling asleep as soon as we had kicked our pants off and gotten under the covers. I only woke up a few minutes before Mai had come in.

"Yugi, come with me downstairs," she whispered.

I slowly maneuvered myself off the bed, making sure Ryou was still sleeping, before I shut his door and followed her. I mentally groaned when I realized that she was leading me into her room. I mean, there wasn't anything wrong with going in there to talk, it's just, her room was so bright. It had bright colors everywhere and it nearly gave me a migraine to look at all of them.

"I'm going to change clothes really quick," Mai said as she rummaged through her closet. She pulled out some casual black sweatpants and a too big t-shirt that belonged to Joey. I sat on her king sized bed and played with one of the bracelets around my wrists, not minding, or paying attention to the fact that she was getting dressed right in front of me.

She pulled her hair into a messy bun before she joined me on the bed, watching me twirl the bracelet that she had given to me as a gift for my birthday last year. It was purple and had small metal stones woven into it. It was one of my favorites.

"Alright," she placed a hand on my knee to gain my attention. I was surprised how quick her composed front melted away. She looked like she was restraining herself from yelling. "Tell me what happened. Tell me why mom isn't here," she demanded. I stared at her. "Was she ever here? Did you even see her when you got home?"

I really hated it when she used a stern tone with me. It made me feel like she was my parent and I was her kid. It was a lousy feeling to tell the truth.

"Well," I started off lamely. Where should I even start off at?

Mai was quickly getting impatient with my lack of answers. I was trying to decide how to word my explanation, but either way, I knew she was going to be hurt from the truth. I guess being direct with her would be the best way to go about it.

"Did Ryou say something to her?" Mai said before I could get my words out.

I scowled. "Don't bring Ryou into this, he didn't do anything!" She leaned back a little, and I realized that I had accidentally yelled that. "Look," I sighed and grabbed one of her pillows to hold to my chest. "Yes, mom was here, but Mai…" my voice got real quiet, "she wasn't here by herself, okay?" Seeing her surprised look, I went on. "Ryou got a little freaked out on our way home from school, so we drove around for a bit so he could clear his head." And that was putting his meltdown nicely.

"What do you mean he 'freaked out?'" Mai asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes.

I ran my hand through my hair. It was knotted. "I don't know, okay? He just got really angry and started driving like a maniac. Nearly got us killed on the interstate, but I got him calmed down enough to pull off somewhere. So then I ended up driving us back home. Ryou was cool, I was cool. It was fine." I assured her. "But then we went inside and everything was not… fine."

She arched an eyebrow, indicating me to go on.

"I went to go see mom, but she wasn't downstairs. I was just about to check outside to see if she was there when I heard Ryou scream. So, obviously, I went to go see what was wrong, and I…" I shivered as the image came back to me. "Mai," I looked her dead in the eye. "Mom and some guy were lying in my bed… and they didn't," my voice cracked a little.

Mai's eyes were as big as saucers. Her hand was hovering over her mouth slightly. "No… tell me she wasn't…"

My eyes strayed away from hers. I shrugged loosely. "They didn't have any clothes on, so…" I trailed off, unable to remember much of what happened after that. I mean, I remember telling them to get out, but otherwise, it was all just a haze in my memory.

"Oh, honey…" Mai cut me off as she pulled herself to my side and wrapped her arms around me. She hushed me quietly even though I wasn't crying. Again, it made me feel like I was her kid, but it was still comforting anyways. It only lasted a few more seconds before she pulled away. Her eyes were steely looking. She was furious. "Do me a favor and start dinner, okay? I'll be back in a little bit."

"M-Mai?" I was surprised. She was already pulling on some shoes. "Where are you going?"

She was moving so fast. One second she was sitting on the bed with me, and the next, she was already halfway out the door.

"Wait!" I called after her, trying to match her pace. "What the hell are you doing?"

She didn't even look at me when she replied, "I'm going to go yell at a bitch!"

I hardly had time to blink before she stormed out of the house and peeled out of the driveway in her convertible. The tires screeching was the last thing I heard before she disappeared from sight.

* * *

Ryou decided he wasn't feeling up to going to school the next day, so he let me borrow his car to drive. I felt odd being in it without him sitting beside me, but I got over it quickly enough and drove myself to school. At least I remembered to bring my license with me this time.

That was probably the only positive thing about the morning so far. Everything else was just going wrong. Ryou was just kind of brooding right now, but I could tell that he would need to vent to someone about his thoughts soon. Until then, he wouldn't really be in a good mood. And don't even get me started on Mai. Three hours after she ran out of the house, she came back and started spouting some nonsense to me about responsibility and all this other stuff that I can't remember. It kind of went something like this:

"Don't start being a fuck up, okay? You just keep doing what you do. Remember, you have to think with what you have in your head, and not with what's in your pants. I mean, you're gay, so it doesn't really apply as much, but what if you get drunk, huh? You may get drunk and knock some girl up by accident! I swear, I'll ram my heel so far into your ass that you'll need to get it surgically removed. I won't be paying for the hospital bill either! You've got to get your shit together, Yugi. And you've got to keep that shit secured. You catch my drift?"

Hell to the no, I did not 'catch her drift.' But just to save us both some sanity I ended up nodding anyways. After that she locked herself up in her room for the night. Then this morning she shoved a bagel in my mouth and left for work. So, yeah, things at home weren't so good.

Could it be possible that school could somehow make my day better? Eh, probably not. When did school ever fix problems?

I sighed in slight frustration as I made my way to my locker. My thoughts were so messed up at the moment, that it took me a second to comprehend why Mana and Yami were both sitting in front of my locker. Oh. Oh shit. I totally forgot that we were going to do something this morning. Hell, what were we even doing? I couldn't remember for the life of me. I really couldn't.

"Morning, Yugi!" Mana waved cheerfully. "You ready to play some Mario?"

A small spark lit up in my brain. Oh man, that's right! I was supposed to bring my Nintendo! Jeez, I just couldn't get anything right. It didn't help that they both brought their own. Mana's was white and Yami's was red. I had a purple one, but of course, it was at home… in my… room. I shuddered.

"Hey, is something wrong?" Yami asked. He was watching me carefully. Like a hawk. My gaze was drawn to the necklace he was fiddling with. It was a cool looking pendant that had the eye of Ra on it. Huh. I hadn't thought about anything to do with Egypt since my grandfather died. He had been an archaeologist.

I tried to smile at them, but I knew it was phony looking. "I'm sorry, guys." I really was. I felt pretty bad that I had forgotten. "I had a lot of, um, family troubles yesterday, so my thoughts are kind of scrambled right now." I rubbed at my right eye. It hadn't stopped watering since yesterday. "I forgot my game at home." It felt lame admitting it like that.

Mana blinked for a few seconds before she scrambled off the floor and hugged me. I wasn't expecting the gesture at all, so I stumbled back a little from her weight.

"Aw, that's okay, Yugi!" She said happily, not sounding disappointed at all.

"You mean you're not mad?" I asked.

Yami shook his head, looking completely content. "It happens." One of his bangs fell towards his eye. He didn't even bother to fix it. "It's no big deal. We can just take turns, or something." I swear, he would have looked awful cool if he had a cigarette just then. He seemed like the kind of guy who'd finish smoking one if he tried it.

I stared at him over Mana's shoulder. He kept his eyes locked on mine, but I could see his cheeks starting to turn pink. I could tell he was a confident kind of guy. He wouldn't back down from a challenge if you held a gun to his head. Then again, it depended on how much common sense he had. I often liked people with good common sense. It made them seem smart.

"Huh," I said after awhile. I was feeling stumped for some reason beyond my knowledge. Maybe it was because of how nonchalant they were acting. I had no clue. I really didn't.

I gently pulled away from Mana's arms. "You sure like to hug people, huh?" I asked her, wanting to change the subject.

She laughed and grabbed my hand. It startled me. "I've got a very affectionate family. We like hugging a lot," she said, pulling me down to the floor. "Besides, you looked like you could use a good hug."

I felt my cheeks get hot. "I bet I look like a mess," I laughed a little, noticing how Yami glanced down at my shirt. I followed his gaze and was slightly mortified to see that I was wearing the same tank top from yesterday. It was wrinkled horribly. "Man, my heads so messed up I can't even remember to redress myself," I mumbled to myself.

Yami wrapped his arms around his legs and rested his chin on the top of his knees. His eyes were half lidded, and I noticed how his eyes darkened when they were like that. It was neat looking.

"Is that your brother that we see picking you up all the time?" He asked.

I smiled a little. "Yeah, his name's Ryou. He's a year older than me."

"So he's still in high school isn't he? Why doesn't he go here, then?" Mana leaned back against one of the lockers, looking truly interested. Yami looked kind of eager to hear the answer himself.

"He's smarter then most people, so he goes to a magnet school some ways away from here. Trust me, you wouldn't believe he was smart if you met him. You'd have to see his actual grades to know it." Ryou could be a real ditz sometimes. He didn't really act like an intellectual. That's what I meant to say to them, but I didn't.

"I heard they give a lot of homework to magnet school kids, so I'm glad I'm not that smart," Mana said, scrunching up her lips in distaste.

I could tell that she hardly had a long attention span, so all that homework would probably run her into the ground.

"Is he your only sibling, or do you have more?" Yami asked.

"Oh, I've got an older sister too. Her name's Mai and she's already out of school." I was always jealous over the fact that Mai only had to go to college for three years. She earned so many credits from AP classes that she had enough to only go for that long. "She lives with me and Ryou, though."

And, just because I knew they were going to ask about my parents, I decided to question them instead. "What about you guys? You got any siblings?"

Mana whipped out her phone from her pocket. "Yep! I've got an older brother named Mahad, see?" She tossed her phone to me. Her background was of her and of a guy with shoulder length brown hair. He also had some bangs that fell over his forehead, nearly skimming his blue eyes. I noticed how he was just as naturally tan as she was. He was good looking.

I handed it back to her. "You guys look just alike."

"We get that a lot."

"What about you, Yami?" I turned my attention to him.

Yami shook his head. "Nope, it's just me. My mom wasn't able to have any more kids after I was born." He smiled fondly. "She says I'm her 'miracle baby.'"

"Isn't that just the cutest thing!" Mana squealed, hands clasped together and all. "His mom is just a doll. You can't help but like her when you meet her," she said.

Her happiness was kind of infectious. I felt myself grinning a little. "Those people are the best kind of people," I thought out loud. "The one's who make you feel instantly welcomed, I mean. You just kind of fall in place next to them like you've known them your whole life. I like those kind of people. It's too bad there isn't a whole lot of them."

Yami looked kind of surprised, yet pleased. "You should meet her sometime then. I think she'd like you a lot."

My head tilted to the left some. "I don't know about that." I said. "I don't think most adults like me. Even if I kind of like them, they still don't like me. I guess most of them just see me as a punk."

"How could they not like you? You're a nice guy and all." Mana eyed the collar around my neck. "Besides, you look way more interesting then most people. I've always respected those who've got their own style."

"Yeah. It separates you from all the normal people," Yami added. "Like your own personal flare." Somewhat hesitantly he said, "I've secretly always liked that about you."

I noticed how Mana grinned at him after he said that. It was almost like she was trying to do it discreetly.

"Thanks," I smiled at them both. "That means a lot to me."

The moment was ruined by the sound of the bell going off.

"Aw, man," Mana groaned, thumping the back of her head against the lockers. "I don't want to learn stuff."

I laughed. "You should take advice from my brother then. He always says, 'who needs school to learn? You know what you know, and you pick up that know-how from your own experiences, and from the people around you.'"

"See, your brother knows what he's talking about," Mana hooked her thumbs into her jeans. "If we had teachers with that kind of sense then I might actually enjoy being here." She glanced at the clock pinned to the wall. "Well, I've got to sprint to the other side of the building, so I'll catch you when I see you." A crazy grin fell over her face before she took off at a dead run through the halls.

I watched her go for a second before the sound of Yami clearing his throat brought my attention back to him. His hands were stuffed in his pockets and he was rocking back and forth on his heels. The way he did it made it seem so casual. Man, everything he did just had a natural smoothness to it. I bet if I saw him fall down the stairs then he could still make it look cool. I hadn't ever met someone like him who could make every single thing they did look intentional. It almost made me want to see him do something stupid.

"So, I was thinking," he kind of drawled, "that maybe you'd like to go with me and Mana to the Charleston after school. You know, the one on Nevada street."

Course I knew it. Everyone in this town knew about the Charleston. It was this cool retro diner that was named after the Charleston dance. Their big thing was chocolate shakes and burgers. It was a weird mix between the 20s and the 50s. It was usually only super busy on Fridays, because that's when the workers would all get on this little stage they had, and they'd start doing the dance. The fun part was that if you knew the dance then you could go up and do it with them. Man, it was just rad as I'll get out.

"How long are you going to hang around for?" I asked him. "I've got to cook dinner for my siblings around five thirty." I almost winced at my slip up. Parents were usually the one's cooking dinner. I think Yami caught on, but he was kind enough to not question it.

"Not for too long." He paused to think about it for a second. "We'll probably just get a shake and then walk down to the grocery around the corner. Mana's supposed to pick up a cake for her brother's birthday."

"How old is he turning?"

"Twenty, I think."

"Oh." I guess it would be alright to go with them then. I was still feeling pretty crumby about the Nintendo thing, so I guess this could make up for it. "Yeah, I guess that would be alright then. Do you guys need a lift?"

Yami hiked his bag up higher onto his shoulder. He nodded. "If you don't mind, that is."

"Cool, I've got my brothers car today, and it's parked under the tree like usual. Just head on over after class gets out."

"Thanks, Yugi," he smiled. "I'll see you then."

"See you."

We both walked off to class.

* * *

School was actually cut about twenty minutes short because of some crazy fuse that went off in the library. The firemen came and told us that it would take them about ten minutes to check it out, and the power had to be off for it, so the principle decided to just let us go because we wouldn't be learning anything in that amount of time anyways.

They only gave us five minutes to get our books from our lockers, and to get out of the school. So I got what I needed and jumped into Ryou's car. I started throwing all the crap we had laying around into the very back of the car where there was no seats. There was a whole bunch of random stuff in here like: Ryou's jacket, some empty coke bottles, a few books, some coins that were spilled all over the floor, a pair of pants, and some locker shelves.

I was leaning over the backseat when I heard someone knock on the window. It scared me so bad that I threw my head up and rammed it into the ceiling of the car.

"Ow!" I hissed, slowly sinking back onto my haunches. Man, that hurt.

I heard Mana's laugh from outside. After rubbing at the tender spot on my head for a few seconds, I crawled back into the drivers seat and undid the locks. Mana yelled, "Shot gun!" and got in beside me. Yami took the backseat.

"Isn't it awesome that they let us out early?" Mana said while buckling herself in. "I got out of taking a quiz! Wouldn't it be cool if we got out of school tomorrow?"

Yami snorted. "I doubt we will. They don't even let us out when it snows."

"Oh, you mean the snow that comes like once every four years?" I said sarcastically.

"And it's only about one inch deep," Mana giggled.

I pulled out of school and tried to remember how to get to the Charleston. I was lousy with directions, so I had to ask them for help on where to go. Mana was just as clueless as I was, but Yami was like a freaking GPS. He directed me until I was aware of what part of town I was in. It then took about eight minutes to get there.

"Sweet!" Mana scanned the parking lot. "There's hardly anyone here!"

I pulled in right at the front and we all headed inside. A song was playing on the jukebox, though I wasn't sure what it was. Ryou knew most of the oldies, so I bet he would have known who was singing.

There was lit up neon signs on some parts of the walls and they reflected off of the red leathered booths that were lined around the room. There was also a long counter that had red stool seats you could sit in. We decided to sit on those since no one else was there. Yami sat to my right and Mana sat to his right.

"Hi!" Our waitress, a twenty-something blonde with a toothy smile, greeted us. She was fiddling with a pen in her hand. "I'm Jen and I'll be serving you this evening. Would you like to look at the menu's, or do you know what you want?"

"We were planning on just getting some milkshakes," Yami answered.

"Alright, are you guys ready to order then?"

Mana went first. "I'll have… a mint chocolate chip shake, please!"

"I'll have a chocolate shake," Yami said.

Mana stuck her tongue out at him. "Boring!"

I ignored them as they started to bicker. "I'll have the cookies and cream one."

"Okay, I'll have them ready in just a few minutes!" Jen smiled before walking off.

Mana waited till she was out of earshot before she said, "Did you guys see her boobs? I'm almost positive her bra is stuffed."

Yami flicked her on the shoulder. "No, because only girls notice that kind of thing." He leaned over the counter, looking down to where Jen was making the milkshakes. "I can't even tell."

I snorted. "Is this what you two do when you go out? You just criticize other girls boobs?"

"No," Mana thumbed her nose. "We also talk about their butts, faces, and hips."

"Hey, she's the one who brings it up all the time, not me." Yami defended himself.

I couldn't help but let out a howl of laughter. I just imagined them sitting on a bench in the mall pointing to girls saying stuff like, "She's busty on the top, but slim on the bottom." "Her boobs are bigger than her head." "Did you see her ass? It's the size of Godzilla's!"

"You guys are horrible," I grinned. "I didn't know you were both so judgmental."

Mana tore the paper off a straw and balled it up before throwing it at my face. It ended up landing in my hair.

"Hey, you say it's judgmental, but we're just calling it like we see it."

"Like you see it," Yami corrected. "I just throw in a comment here and there."

Mana sputtered. "Yugi, don't listen to him. He likes to think he's a goody two shoes, but he's not! I swear, he's evil!"

Yami looked over at me and twirled a finger by his head. "She's crazy," he mouthed.

"See! He's trying to make me look like the bad guy!"

Luckily for me, Jen brought us our shakes just then. They were in those tall looking glasses. I liked them a lot. I was just about to take a big scoop of mine, when all of a sudden, my phone rang. I took it out of my pocket and saw that it was Mai. She'd be pissed if I ignored her.

"Sorry guys, one second," I said before putting the phone to my ear. "Hey, what's up?"

_"Hey… I need you to do something for me."_

"Uh… okay?" I had to turn my volume up some more because she was speaking so quietly. It was kind of creeping me out a little. I mean, Mai being quiet wasn't a good thing.

_"I need you to… "_ I heard her take a deep breath. _"I… well… oh for Pete's sake! I need you to go and get me some tampons!"_

Um, say what? Oh no. No, no, no. Those words that she just spoke were not just heard. Hell no. Was she crazy? She wanted me to go get the unmentionable lady products that no male should ever have to touch? Someone kill me now.

"Are you serious?" I said loudly. "You can't be serious. Nope. I refuse to believe that you just asked me that. We should just hang up right now, and pretend like this conversation never happened."

_"Yugi Mutou, I will kick your ass to the sun if you don't go and get me some! It's embarrassing enough that I have to ask you, okay? But you need to be a good little brother, think of all the things I do for you, and go and buy me some._"

I grit my teeth together. "Why can't you just ask Joey to do it? I mean, his snake is the one that's going -"

_"Okay, can you please not finish that sentence!_" She yelled. _"Come on, Yugi! I'm stuck on the fucking toilet! Suck it up, and go to a cashier that's a girl. She'll understand, and won't even make a fuss about it, okay?"_

I groaned loudly and slumped to the side, nearly falling off of my seat. Yami grabbed my arm and steadied me back into place. I smiled gratefully before returning my attention to the conversation.

"Fine, I'll buy you some, but you owe me so big! Like, you better go buy me a puppy or something to make up for this."

_"Alright, alright. Now hurry up! Oh, and thanks."_ She hung up before I could say anything else.

I blew air through my mouth, watching as it made my hair flutter upwards. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Yami and Mana staring at me.

"So, Mana," I rested my elbow on the countertop. "What do you know about tampons?"

* * *

A/N - I just watched Duck Dynasty and it gave me the best idea for this story. I can't wait to write it! Oh man, you guys are going to be surprised.

P.S. - In the next chapter, Yugi and Yami will have a scene where it's just the two of them. There won't be any Mana. Just them.

Please leave a comment in the review section, so I can read your thoughts on this chapter. Thanks to all that have reviewed so far!


	5. Sound the Bugle

The next morning I woke up to a delirious Ryou. He was shivering something awful and kept mumbling some nonsense that I could hardly understand. I didn't need a thermometer to know that he was sick with the fever.

I sat by him on his bed, dabbing at his forehead with a wet rag. "You dumb idiot," I said when I thought he was awake. "You stressed yourself out so bad that you gave yourself a fever. I don't know how you're so smart on paper, but so stupid off it."

He sluggishly rolled his head over to look at me. His eyes were glassy looking. "Sorry…" he said in a hoarse voice.

I put the rag to the side and got up to get the spare blanket he kept in his closet. It was a blue fleece, so I was hoping it would keep him warm enough. I walked back over and laid it over him.

"It's okay," I pushed his bangs off his face. "I guess it's not your fault anyways, huh? Sorry, I don't mean to sound like a jerk. I'm just worried about you, you know?"

"I know," he repeated softly. His eyes were starting to flutter.

"Hey, don't go back to sleep yet, okay? I'm going to go get you some water and some pills."

He nodded a little, but I could tell he would be knocked out by the time I came back, so I made him sit up a bit so he would stay awake. Once he was situated, I hurried downstairs to the kitchen, and was surprised that the light was off. It was then that I realized that it was still pretty early in the morning. Mai wasn't even awake to get in the shower yet.

Sighing tiredly, I scrambled around in the cabinets until I found some pills that would help reduce his fever. I got two of them out of the container and then filled a water bottle up to the brim with ice cold water. I didn't want him getting dehydrated, so it was best to give him as much as possible.

I almost broke my neck on my way up the stairs. My foot had missed a step and I nearly fell backwards. It made my heart race and it instantly got rid of any drowsiness I had been feeling earlier. Shaking my head in relief, I went back into Ryou's room and found him nodding off.

"Here," I sat beside him, trying to keep my voice gentle. "Open your mouth for me, okay? And don't try and spit the pills out. They're going to make you feel better, I promise."

Ryou complied and parted his lips. I let him get a mouthful of water before I slipped the pills in his mouth. He swallowed them with the water, then opened his mouth a little wider, indicating he wanted more. I held the back of his head and lifted the water bottle to his lips. He took huge gulps of it.

"Alright," I set the bottle on his nightstand. He slumped back down into his original position. "I'm going to let you sleep now, okay? If you need anything then just use your cell phone to call me or Mai." I grabbed his phone off his dresser and set it beside him on the mattress.

He tried to smile at me, but it was more of just a small tug at the corner of his lips. "M'kay. Love you." He was always way more affectionate when he was sick.

I ran my thumb across his forehead a few times, lulling him to sleep. "Love you too. Get better."

I turned off his lamp and crept out of his room, closing the door as noiselessly as possible. It was still early, so I figured I'd just try and go back to sleep. The only problem was that I didn't really have anywhere to go. My bed hadn't been stripped since the incident, so there was no way I was going back in there.

After thinking about it for a few seconds, I snagged an old comforter from the hallway closet and made my way back downstairs. I went into the den and flopped onto the couch. It must have been pretty comfortable, because after a few minutes of laying on it, I was fast asleep.

* * *

I passed by a car accident on the way to school and nearly started gagging because the driver of one of the cars was bleeding from the head. I don't think he was close to death or anything. I mean, he was smoking a cigarette and all. Man, did I hate those things. But anyways, all the blood on his face made my stomach churn. I get pretty queasy when it comes to things like that. I was okay if I saw my own blood, but if I saw someone else bleeding out then I started getting nauseous.

The feeling wasn't completely gone by the time I got to school, so I took some change and got a coke out of the vending machine. It made me feel a whole lot better.

On my way back to my locker I ran into Yami. He looked like he had just gotten here himself. I couldn't help but notice the whole black ensemble he had going on. A tight black T-shirt that was tucked into a pair of black jeans with some short black boots. He could pull of the whole rebellious 50s look just fine.

"Hey Yugi," he kept on walking, so I caught up to him. "Did you uh… get the stuff to your sister okay?" His mouth was curled like he was trying to repress a smile.

It took me a second to get what he meant, but then I understood that he was talking about the tampons. I couldn't help but laugh a little. Mana had thought it was so funny that Mai had asked me to buy them for her. She helped me get the right ones, but ditched me when it was time to check out at the counter. I could hear her and Yami laughing by the entrance though. Bitches.

"Yeah, she pretty much ignored me for the rest of the night. She did give me like five bucks though," I shrugged.

"Wow, you should make a business out of that," he grinned. "Like a delivery tampon service, or something."

I snorted way too loud for my liking. "I think my siblings would completely shun me if I ended up making that my life career."

"I think they'd probably classify you as some kind of pervert," he motioned for me to follow him into the library. We greeted the librarian quietly before heading out a side door that led us out onto a fenced in porch. Yami dropped his bag into a metal chair and then took a seat himself. I sat across from him, and was slightly surprised to find out that the chairs rocked back and forth.

"This is where me and Mana usually hang out before class," he said, bringing one of his legs up onto the seat so he could wrap an arm around it. He used his other foot to get the chair moving.

"It's nice out here," I commented. "Where is Mana anyways?" The back of my chair was a little wet, so I sat closer to the edge.

He hummed a little before answering. "She's not coming today since it's Mahad's birthday. Their mom always let's both of them ditch if their birthday falls on a weekday."

"What?" My mouth fell open. "She must have an awesome mom. I can't get out of school unless I'm really sick."

"See, it's the opposite for me," Yami grinned. He picked up a leaf and started spinning it between his fingers. "My mom freaks out over the littlest things. I could cough just once and she'll assume I'm coming down with tuberculosis."

"That's crazy." I grabbed my own leaf and twisted the stem off of it. I threw it at him and he tried to catch it in his mouth, but it ended up nicking his shoulder. "My family is pretty laid back for the most part. Except, I remember this one time where I fell asleep on the couch, and I guess my siblings couldn't find me because they started freaking out. My brother thought someone had kidnapped me. I think they were about to call the police, but imagine how surprised they were when I came into the kitchen asking why they were talking so loud. Man, they were stupid." I laughed, remembering it.

Yami rested his chin on his knee and smiled lazily. His eyes were dark looking just like the other day, and I couldn't help but stare at them for a second. I had never seen eyes like his before.

"Can I ask you something?" He said suddenly, taking me off guard.

I drummed my fingers against my leg. "Shoot."

His gaze strayed to the ground for a second, and he dipped his head to the left, giving me a peek of a small tattoo that was behind his ear. It looked like some kind of hieroglyphic. He must have really been interested in Egypt if his tat and necklace was any indication.

"What's your favorite sound?"

Wait, what? "My favorite sound?" I repeated, confused. He nodded and grinned. "I thought you were going to ask me something super deep that you would ponder on for the rest of the day!"

Yami's foot slipped off his chair and he started laughing. He tipped back further into his seat and ran a hand through his wild hair, looking as mischievous as I'll get out.

"What in the world…" his chest heaved slightly as his laughter died off.

"Well, you were looking all cool and placid, so I thought you were going to ask something that only people in movies would ask. Like, 'do you ever wonder if you'll ever do something great in life?'"

Yami looked highly amused. "What movies have you been watching? I don't know what you're into, but that line just screams chick flick!"

I pointed my finger at him in defense. "Hey! There are some good chick flick movies out there! My brother watches them all the time!"

Before I could lower my finger back down, Yami grabbed it with his hand and brought it close to his face. He examined it for a few seconds before he unfurled the rest of my fingers and began to run the tips of his own fingers across my palm. He was just skimming over it, so it tickled.

"What are you doing?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

The corner of his mouth pulled up into a half smile. "I don't know, I just wanted something to play with." The way he said it made him sound so innocent! He glanced at me real quick before he focused on my hand again. "By the way, you never answered my question."

Oh, right. My favorite sound, huh? I was trying to think about it, but him touching my hand was so distracting!

"Your hand is so calloused," he said.

"Yeah, I used to climb tree's a lot," I replied absentmindedly. I was still trying to think about my favorite sound. Now, for some odd reason, I did happen to like the click sound that high heels made. Especially when they were going across marble. But that wasn't my all time favorite thing to hear.

"Oh, I know!" I jumped in my seat a little. "I've always loved the sound of tires rolling over gravel. "

Yami started tracing the patterns on my palm with his finger. He nodded his head a little, pursing his lips. "I like that sound, too." He paused for a second. "I've always liked that sound a stick makes when you swing it through the air really fast. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah," I said softly. "That's alright, I guess."

"Can I ask you something else?"

"Might as well."

He let go of my hand and went back to his original position. I couldn't help but stare at his boots for a second. They were hardly scuffed at all, but they didn't look new either. Maybe I'd ask him where he got them because I was really digging them.

Yami smiled so big that I could see almost all of his pearly whites. "Do you ever wonder if you'll ever do something great in life?"

I stared at him for a full five seconds before I shot one of my bracelets at him. "Oh, shut it," I mumbled, grinning because I knew he was just teasing me.

Yami picked up the bracelet that had fallen onto his lap and examined it closely, turning it in his hands, admiring the design on it. It was made out of different shades of red thread with some black thread woven through it, and it was about as thick as my pointer finger.

"I made that about a year ago," I said, noticing how he admired it. "You can keep it if you want, I've got tons of them."

He looked up in surprise. His cheeks were tinged a light pink. "Really? Are you sure?"

The bell rang just then. I felt a little disappointed because I was having a good time talking to him, but I got out of my chair anyways. Yami groaned and threw his head back a little.

"Sure I'm sure," I said, offering my hand to him. He grasped it and I pulled him up. "Here," I wrapped the bracelet around his wrist and tied the two strings together, making sure to not make it too tight or loose. Yami held his hand out in front of him to look at it and smiled.

"Thanks, Yugi," he gave me a quick one armed hug. "Hey, you want to go see a movie with me and Mana this weekend? Someone at my mom's work gave her a few passes and they expire after this week, so we figured we'd go ahead and use them."

Man, I can't even remember the last time I went out and saw a movie. It must have been a few months at least. Was I even free this weekend? Hold on let me think… Ha, just kidding, I never had plans.

"Sounds good to me," I said eventually, once we headed inside. "What are you thinking about seeing?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, probably that new horror movie with the cannibalistic mental patients that are on the loose. Mana's really into those."

"She is a weird little child," I laughed. "But yeah, I don't mind seeing that one."

"Alright, I'll let Mana know," he said, glancing at the time on his phone. "I'll see you later, yeah?"

"Sure," I nodded.

He grinned and walked off, looking at the bracelet again. I couldn't help but laugh out loud when he ran right into a door. I wasn't feeling too bad for him because I finally got to see him do something stupid.

* * *

When I got home I went straight to Ryou's room to see how he was doing. He was sitting up in bed, doing a pile of homework that Joey or someone must have brought him. I could tell he was pretty much making himself do it because he still looked too sick to be comfortable.

"Hey," I said, grabbing his attention immediately. He smiled at me lazily and rubbed at his eyes as I took a seat on his bed.

"Hey. How was school?" He asked.

"Hold that thought," I grinned, pulling out a little something from my bag. "Cause I got you a frosty!"

His eyes lit up and he eagerly held his hand out for it. I made sure to wrap a napkin around the cup before handing it off to him. It was almost funny how fast he pushed his textbooks off his bed and started in on his treat.

"Stop being a good brother!" He said between bites. "Because then I have to make it up to you sometime later in life!"

"Well, yeah," I nudged him in the shoulder. "Why else do you think I bought you a frosty?"

Ryou launched himself at me and wrapped an arm around my neck, dragging me down to his lap. "Because you love me!"

"Ack!" I struggled to push him off, but he was more than happy to just lean over me while he ate. "Get off you snowflake!"

"Say uncle!"

"What the hell, we're not even wrestling properly!" I grunted, finally wiggling out from underneath him. "Besides, don't you want to hear about my marvelous morning of almost puking my guts out?"

"Not when you put it like that," he scrunched his nose up in distaste. "Tell me something I'll actually enjoy listening to."

"Uh…" I rolled my eyes to the side, trying to think of something he wouldn't be too bored with. "I'm going to go to the movies with Yami and Mana this weekend." Well, that was at least a little exciting, right?

Ryou looked at me with wide eyes, and I couldn't help but think that he looked ridiculous because he still had his spoon sticking out of his mouth. He tugged it out and smiled.

"You are?" I nodded. "Yugi, that's great! I can't believe you're actually socializing with people outside of school! Holy hell, this is a memorable moment." He cupped his hands around his mouth, and, using the voice an announcer would use, he said, "Hello everyone, I just wanted to point out that my kid brother is finally getting a life. My gay brother. My gay brother who has an attractive friend," he prattled on.

"Are you trying to imply something?" I asked.

"What?" He looked at me with an innocent look that quickly turned sour. He clutched his head. "Ow, brain freeze!"

I snorted. "You're such a dork." He was still making faces, so I rolled off his bed and adjusted my shirt. "Alright, well, I'm going to run to the store because Joey is supposed to be coming over tonight. You want anything specific? Like, soup or something?"

Ryou leaned his head back against the wall and thought for a second. "Uh… can you get me some fruit punch?"

I stared at him. "Why?"

He rolled his eyes and kicked his blanket off his bed. "Cause I want to bathe my toenails in it. You dumb ass, why do you think I want it? To drink, of course!"

"Alright, you don't have to be ugly about it," I said. "Jeez, you get a guy a frosty and he turns sarcastic on you." I left his room, ignoring his laughter.

Man, I couldn't wait till he was better. Then he could get his own freaking fruit punch.

* * *

A/N - So, if you hadn't guessed already, I'm pretty much obsessed with anything that has to do with the 50s era. And I thought that Yami would be able to pull off the whole rebel, greaser look really well, so that's why I had him dressed like that in this chapter.

Now, I know it doesn't seem like Yugi and Yami did much other then talk, but I wanted to point out the part about the bracelet. Keep in mind that Yami does have a thing for Yugi, so him being given the bracelet was very significant to him.


	6. Down With the Sickness

A/N - Alright, a** Guest** left me a review that I've got to clear up, and this is the only way for me to do it because I cannot personally message them. **Anyone else may want to read this because this person did make a valid point.** However, I've got an explanation ready, so here it goes.

First off, Yugi does not hate their mother. I never said he did, not even after he saw her in his bed. Ryou is the only one who hates her, and yes, I have said that he hates her because he has no respect for her and that he thinks she's a slut. Alright here is a reason why. Their mother has been in three completely different relationships and has had a kid come out of all of them. Yugi came about from a one night stand, so you can't even call that a_ relationship_. How do you, as a reader, know their mother didn't have any more sexual partners even before they were born, or even after they were born? That man they found in bed with her was supposed to give off the idea that she is a promiscuous person. As in, she has a lot of casual sex with a lot of different people.

**Ryou's hatred for her is not only because he thinks she is a slut, but because she's never even been around to take care of him, or his siblings properly**. I haven't gone into detail about this yet in the story, but basically, she is not a good mother. Mai's dad took care of her, Mai took care of Ryou, and both of them took care of Yugi. Their mom was just in and out the door all of the time. She didn't watch them grow up, nor did she make an effort to raise them. You know why? Because she was out having fun with random guys.

I, personally, believe that sex is an act that is done between two people who love each other. It is something very special. It shouldn't be done between two people who hardly know each other, or people who don't plan to be with that person for a very long time/forever. You know why Ryou has no respect for her? It's because their mom has no respect for herself. And she's in the same loophole because she's getting sex out of the men she dates, she's not getting love. The man she's with doesn't respect her, she doesn't respect herself. Why the hell should Ryou admire someone like her? Maybe he can learn to when she decides to grow up.

"If you want to be respected by others, the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you." - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

* * *

It was decided that we would be going to the movies on Friday night, and I was going to be the driver. I kind of had to be because Yami and Mana didn't have their own cars. I was actually kind of surprised because Mai offered to let me use her convertible, but I told her no since I hated how fast her car accelerated. It scared the crap out of me every time I pressed down on the pedal.

Ryou was feeling better and was practically dancing around me all afternoon, bugging me about every little thing imaginable. He wanted to know what I was wearing, what movie place we were going to, what we were going to do afterwards, and what time I would be back. Honestly, I hardly knew myself, so how was I supposed to answer him?

"You have to wear my lucky red vans!" He insisted, shoving them into my arms.

"Why?" I asked, noticing how clean they looked. Huh. He must have just washed them. These were the only things he ever took good care of.

"To bring you luck," he said simply, as if that was reason enough.

"But they don't go with my outfit."

Ryou huffed and wiggled his eyebrows. "Watch it, your gay is showing."

I glared at him and went through my dresser, looking for some new pants because the maroon ones I had planned to wear were obviously not going to work. I ended up going with some white ones. Along with those I would be wearing Ryou's shoes and a black tank top that had an Indian motorcycle print on it. Surprisingly, Joey was the one who bought me the shirt, thinking it was my style. He may have treated me lousy sometimes, but I could tell that he meant well.

"Yugi, hurry up, you'll miss your movie if you take any longer getting ready," Mai shouted from downstairs. Her and Joey were watching TV, so I was surprised the she was even keeping track of the time. I'm guessing she was a little excited that I was actually going out for once without either her or Ryou acting as my social companion.

After checking myself over in the mirror, I hurried downstairs and went into the den where Mai, Joey, and Ryou were all hanging out. They all glanced at what I was wearing before they smiled.

Joey beamed when he looked at the shirt I was sporting. "Hey Yug, you fixing to head out?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'll be back around ten thirty, I guess."

He sent a cheeky look to Mai before he got up and came over to me. "Here," he took out his wallet and pulled out a crisp twenty dollar bill. "Take this and get you and your friends something at the snack counter, yeah? Unless you're going somewhere else afterwards then you might want to save it until then."

I stared at the money in slight bewilderment. "I mean, that's real nice of you and everything, but you don't have to," I said. "It's your mon - "

"Yeah, but I want to," he grinned in a somewhat goofy manner. "I want you to have a good time, alright? And don't you dare come and bring me back change."

I laughed because I was thinking of doing just that. "Yeah, okay." I slipped the money into my pocket. "Thanks, Joey."

"Don't mention it," he said.

I looked over his shoulder and saw Mai looking fondly at the both of us. It was then that I could kind of understand why she liked this loud mouthed blonde so much in the first place.

I grabbed the keys off the rack and waved to them. "See you guys later."

"Have fun!"

"Don't get into _too_ much trouble!"

It wasn't until I was in the car and on the way to Mana's that I started to feel a rush of excitement for the night to come.

* * *

Mana's home was located in a tucked away neighborhood that contained small to medium sized houses. Almost every yard had a chain link fence separating the property, and it looked like most people liked to express their beliefs by putting certain signs out in the front of their yard. It was kind of different from what I was used to, so I couldn't help but drive a little slowly to get a good look at everything as I passed.

Eventually, I ended up at her place which looked a little torn up. Some of the shutters on the windows were broken off, and the frame of the storm door was bent and splintered. Not to mention the section above the porch looked like it was drooping. Even so, I still thought it looked cool in an old withered kind of way.

I sent her a text that I was here, and she practically spilled out of her house only seconds later. From what I could see, she looked to be wearing a pair of jeans, a light blue sweatshirt, and a pair of black converse.

She jumped into the car. "Hey, Yugi!" She greeted happily, buckling herself in.

"Hey," I said, waiting for her to get comfortable before driving off. I had to turn on my headlights because it was starting to get pretty dark. "You're going to have to help me find Yami's place because I've never heard of his street before."

She laughed and rolled down her window. "Okay, just go back the way you came and take a left. He lives on the other side of that random gas station."

"Oh, I was wondering about that on my way here," I said.

Mana became quiet for a second, so I looked over at her to see why, and noticed that she was looking at my arms. She then started looking in the back of my car.

"Son, are you crazy!" She shouted, nearly scaring me half to death. "Where's your jacket?"

I raised an eyebrow in question. "What do you mean?"

"It's freezing in that theater. You need something to keep you warm," she insisted, looking determined and what not. She whipped out her phone and started texting someone. "I'm going to tell Yami to bring you one. He's a little broader than you, but whatever."

I didn't even bother to argue. I had come to learn that changing her mind was like trying to crack an entire mountain with your fist. Impossible and sometimes painful. I think that if her and Mai ever teamed up on me then I would probably just die on the spot.

For the rest of the short ride Mana talked my ear off about the preview for the movie we were seeing. Though, the more she talked, the more I was starting to feel a little unsure about what I was about to watch. From what I picked up from her rambling, there was going to be a lot of guts and blood being thrown around. I wasn't too sure if my stomach would be able to handle that, but I didn't mention it to her. I'd just get a Coke and sip on it if things got too bad.

"Pull in to that house that has the bumblebee flag by the door," she pointed with her finger to a medium sized house that was painted white. It was pretty nice looking with a garden displayed in the front of it. For some reason it reminded me of lemonade and little glass animal figurines. "Just honk and he'll come running out."

"Won't the neighbors be - "

"Move!" She pushed my right hand away and shoved her palm onto the middle of the wheel. The loud blaring noise that came out after that wasn't all too pleasant. I had to knock her away because I could tell she was going in for a few more pushes. I thumped my head back against my headrest when she leaned out of the window and sang, "Yami ami oxen free!"

We waited a few more seconds before he appeared, carrying the jacket Mana had asked for. He got into the back seat, and I couldn't help but notice how hard he was breathing.

"You get a little worn out walking down those porch steps?" I asked while looking over my shoulder to back out. His eyes connected with mine briefly before he looked off to the side.

"No, I was playing with my cat," he said.

Mana snorted. "How many scratches did she give you this time?"

From the rearview mirror I could see him grin a little. "None, because I was wearing oven mitts."

Me and Mana both started cracking up. Just the thought of Yami running around his house with oven mitts on was pretty funny. Add the cat in and it was downright hysterical.

Yeah. I could tell the night was going to get interesting with these two weirdo's by my side.

* * *

We got to the movie theater about fifteen minutes later. The whole place was hardly packed at all because we chose to go to the most run down one in town. Yami was busy messing around with one of the claw machines they had sitting around, so me and Mana went and bought candy and popcorn. I made sure to get a soda for myself.

We were about to go search the halls for our theater when Mana pointed out one of those photo booth things.

"Guys, let's do it real quick!" She tugged both of us over to it, nearly making me drop the popcorn. "Hold on, let me get some change out."

I stopped her before she could. "Don't worry about it, I got it." I got the leftover change from the snacks and fed it into the machine.

"Thanks, Yugi!" Mana cheered before dashing inside the booth, leaving the curtain open.

Yami went in after her and they took a seat on the small little bench inside. I was about to question where the hell I should sit, because they took up the whole thing, but Mana already had it figured out. She was practically beaming, I swear she was.

"You can just sit on Yami's lap!"

Yami made some weird, startled noise as he looked at Mana in surprise. His eyes widened a little and his cheeks turned a rosy color. I almost laughed as he began to fidget a little the more Mana grinned at him like a cat who had just caught a mouse.

"Here, I'll sit sideways so I'm not blocking you," I said, easily sitting on Yami's lap and swinging my legs over his own to get more comfortable. I put my arm around the back of his neck to keep my balance. His hands were hovering in the air. I guess he just didn't know what to do with them, so I grabbed one of his arms and put it behind me, then grabbed his other one and settled it around Mana's shoulders. The heat from his hand made me twitch a little, but it was kind of a nice feeling. "There. Now we're all good."

"Sweet!" Mana began fiddling with all the options on the screen. The camera soon turned on so that we could all see ourselves. It started to count down.

For the first picture we all decided to just smile and look happy. The second one was of us making our eyes all wide and having our mouths in some weird position. Mana puffed her cheeks out, Yami sucked his cheeks in and did fish lips, and I had my lips quirked with my tongue poking out. For the third picture me and Mana smashed our faces next to Yami's so that our cheeks were all touching. In that one we were just laughing. Then the last picture was of Yami giving Mana bunny ears, me looking at Yami like a creepy stalker, and Mana clutching my leg across her chest. My foot was digging into her cheek.

All in all, it was pretty fun. We got our copy of the photos out of the slit in the machine and looked them over. Since there was only one thing of all four photos, we each picked one we wanted to keep, and Mana said she would cut them out later. I was getting the second picture, Yami was getting the third, and Mana was getting the first and fourth. She wanted one to keep at home and one to put in her locker at school.

After that was settled, we gathered up our stuff and went into our theater. There was only two separate groups in there, and they were both made up of only two or three people. They were scattered off to the sides, so we decided to sit somewhere in the middle. Mana sat to Yami's left and I sat to his right.

He settled his arm on the top of my seat and kicked his feet up on the chairs in front of us. He rolled his head towards me. "Why do I get the feeling that we're going to be the one's covering our eyes the whole time?" He asked.

I laughed, glancing over at Mana who was stuffing her face with some sour candy. She looked excited enough, tapping her foot against the floor, and bobbing her head to something that she was humming.

"Because we probably are," I grinned. "I'm really jumpy, so don't be surprised if you find your arm loosing circulation halfway through the movie."

"Are you a screamer?" He asked, looking a little too amused for such a simple question.

I took a large gulp of my Coke. "Only if I get worked up enough. I don't know, it's more of an anxious squeal then a scream."

I could smell his minty breath when he laughed a little. "If you need to bite on my jacket then go ahead. I won't mind."

Speaking of said jacket, it was doing a very good job of keeping me warm. Mana was right when she said it would be freezing. I could feel the cold air through my pants.

"Guys, the previews are starting!" Mana tried to whisper, though it didn't really come out sounding quiet. She pulled out her phone and turned it off real quick.

Me and Yami both sunk low in our chairs when that animated roller coaster showed before the previews came on, because Mana threw her hands up in the air and started making sound effects, like, "Whoa!" "Ahhh!" "Oh my gosh, this is going so fast!"

Yeah. It was embarrassing.

"It's worse when we're in a theater full of people," Yami whispered so close to my ear that I shivered from his lips nearly brushing against my skin. "Sometimes people start doing it with her."

I turned my head to respond and had to lean back a little because his face was just right there. "One time I was at a movie with my sister and her boyfriend, and these two guys just started unrolling some sleeping bags at the very front," I pointed to the empty space before all of the seats. "And they were just laying out on the ground, so my sister's boyfriend, Joey, went down there, grabbed the end of one of the guy's sleeping bag, and started dragging him all around on the floor."

Yami's mouth was open slightly and his eyebrows were raised. "You're joking," he said, looking at me with a mixture of disbelief and amusement.

"I swear that's what happened! You can ask him yourself!" I grinned. "But anyways, my sister was so embarrassed, so she made us leave. It was worth it though. The guy in the sleeping bag was just screaming and cursing. It was hilarious."

"Hey!" Mana interrupted, "It's starting, so shut your traps!"

Me and Yami smirked at each other before turning our attention to the movie screen. The movie went on and I didn't really have much trouble watching it in the beginning. It was mostly just showing brief clips of the mental people running around, hunting down victims. Nothing too graphic. Well, it was all nice and censored until the middle of the movie. That's when it started getting really gory. The sound of bones snapping and popping, teeth grinding, haggard and deranged breathing, screaming, and all the blood everywhere was making me feel extremely queasy. I was actually shaking.

Sipping the Coke didn't even help at all. I felt like I was going to throw up. My stomach and throat were just making me feel terrible. There was a particular scene where someone's face was eaten clean off, and that was when I knew I couldn't take it anymore.

"H-hey, Yami…" I tugged at his arm weakly. He dragged his attention away from the screen and looked at me. "I'm not…" I was stumbling over my words because my mind was so focused on being sick. "I'm not feeling too well, I think I'm going to step out for a bit."

He looked me over carefully and then grabbed one of my hands. "You feel clammy," he said. I didn't really like being touched when I was feeling so lousy, so I shook out of his grasp.

"I need to…" I couldn't even finish what I was saying.

Yami looked at me worriedly. "Hold on a second and I'll come with you," he said. He then turned to Mana and told her what was going on.

She leaned over and put her hand to my face. "Yeah, you might want to go sit outside for a bit. You're not looking too hot." I could tell she was torn between going with us and staying to watch the rest of the movie.

Yami waved her off. "Don't worry, I'll go sit with him for a bit. You just finish the movie, okay?"

Mana looked unsure for a few seconds before she ended up nodding. "Here," she grabbed my Coke and handed it to Yami. "Take that with you in case he needs to rinse out his mouth."

"Alright, thanks," Yami whispered before he helped me out of my seat. He rested his free hand at the back of my neck and lead me out of the theater. We ended up bypassing the lobby and went outside to sit on the curb. I took off Yami's jacket and sat with my head between my knees.

"Just take some deep breaths," Yami said, rubbing soothing circles on my back. "You feel like you're going to throw up?"

I jerked my head up in down, trying to nod properly. "Y-yeah…"

"Did you eat something bad earlier?" He asked.

"No," I gasped a little. "I'm really squeamish… with blood and... stuff."

Some people entering the theater looked at us as they walked by, but neither me or Yami really paid attention to them.

"Oh, I see. That movie probably wasn't a good idea then."

I almost started gagging.

"You know what," he said, "you'll feel a lot better if you just empty out your stomach. Do you want to do that? There's a grocery right next to the parking lot and I can run over there and get some eggs. You can eat some raw eggs and those will make you throw up right away."

I wasn't exactly sure what he meant because I was pretty sure that people ate raw eggs on a regular basis, but at this point, I was willing to do pretty much anything and not question it. My hands were shaking, I felt hot and cold at the same time, and my stomach was just killing me.

"Mhmm…." I managed to mutter to him.

He jumped to his feet in a second. "Okay, you stay right here, and I'll go get those eggs."

I looked up just in time to see him take off. He literally sprinted through the entire parking lot, looking like a dark bullet shooting off into the night. The white heels of his shoes were the last thing I saw before he crossed over to the grocery.

I felt like it had hardly been six minutes before he came running back with a carton of eggs under one arm and a styrofoam cup in his hand. He must have booked it the whole way through because he was panting by the time he sat back down next to me.

"Hey," he greeted. "You'll be just fine in a minute, okay? Go over to the bushes so you're not making a mess in the lot."

I did as he said and crawled over to the grass. He followed after me and began opening up the eggs, using the pavement to crack them open before dumping the yolk into the cup. I think he only put two in there.

"Here," he handed it over to me.

I looked inside and swished the yolk around a little. Just thinking about swallowing this was making me want to throw up even more.

"Okay, here it goes," I said, slowly bringing the cup to my mouth. It touched my parted lips and I paused. Holy hell this was going to be disgusting!

"Think about it a lot while it's sliding down your throat," Yami said.

I looked at him to ask why, but couldn't as he grabbed the end of the cup and tilted it into my mouth, making the yolk spill inside slowly. My skin prickled and my tongue jumped back in repulsion. I tried to pull back, but Yami grabbed the back of my head and made me sit through it.

Right as the yolk started to touch the back of my throat Yami said, "Just think you're swallowing someone else's bloody guts."

Well, that did it. My mind pictured it just fine and from there on it was pretty clear that I was going to start throwing up. First I started gagging, and then my whole body started heaving.

"That's it," Yami whispered, putting his hand on my back as I leaned over into the grass. "Just let it out."

I did just that. I started spewing up whatever was in my stomach along with the yolk which never fully made it down my throat. The whole time I was going Yami was rubbing my back. He briefly left my side to grab the Coke that he had brought and offered it to me once I was finished. After I spat a few times, I grabbed it and swished it in my mouth, then spat that out as well.

"Here, just lean on me for a second, and catch your breath," Yami said, gently pulling me to his side. I slumped against half of his torso, resting my head against his shoulder. "Take some deep breaths," he whispered. He popped the top off the Coke and waited until I was ready before he held it up for me to drink out of.

"Thanks, I'm starting to feel better," I told him once I was done. I didn't bother to move away from him. He was really warm, and it felt good to just lean on something solid right now. To tell the truth, I was pretty worn out. Being sick all over the place could really make you feel drowsy. Yami didn't seem to mind me being draped over him too much.

So for the next thirty minutes we sat on the curb just like that, leaning on each other, and talking about random things. Sometime during it all Yami managed to snag the jacket that I had discarded earlier and covered me with it. He had his head hanging over my shoulder and one of his hands resting on my lap. I was still resting my whole weight against him, except I turned my head up to look at him when he was talking. It was kind of… kind of nice actually.

By the time the movie was over, and Mana had come out to find us, I was feeling as good as new. My stomach had stopped churning and I didn't feel like I needed to gag anymore. Yami and Mana both looked relieved when I told them.

"I'm sorry, Yugi," Mana apologized on the way back to the car. "We'll go see a comedy next time."

"It's fine," I said, waving the whole thing off. "So, how did the movie end?"

A spark lit up in her eyes and so she proceeded to explain, without being graphic, how the mental patients were taken down. I wasn't really listening to what she was saying. I was too busy looking at Yami out of the corner of my eye, thinking about how willing he was to help me and how he made me as comfortable as possible.

I think he sensed me watching him because he tilted his head towards me and gave me a smile. I returned the gesture easily, my gaze soon being drawn to the bracelet I had given him. He seemed to like it a lot, so I decided I would make him something like it as a way to thank him for helping me out.

I was so caught up in my thoughts while dropping both of them off that I hardly noticed that I had forgotten to give Yami his jacket back.

* * *

A/N - Guys, please do not do what Yugi did and try to eat raw eggs to make you throw up. Raw eggs can carry salmonella, and it will end up making you sicker. I used this method to help Yugi because I heard about an actor doing it to help clear his stomach before having to do a big stunt.

But anyways, Yami is going to get progressively bolder when it comes to doing anything with Yugi. He'll probably get a little more touchy as time goes on. Yugi allowing him to do so is displaying the progress being made between them. You will also see how Yugi will become more aware of Yami and what he does/says from here on out.

Thanks so much for the reviews! Also, I appreciate all the favorites and follows!


	7. You Blushing Fool

The next few days went by without much going on between them. I was still sleeping with Ryou, even though Mai had finally washed the sheets and blankets on my bed, and Ryou was still a little weird whenever he was lingering around upstairs, but it would probably be like that for a few more weeks at least. We were both trying to get over what had happened, but it was hard to forget.

Besides that there wasn't really much else out of the norm except for the hour I spent every night on making a new bracelet for Yami. The whole process was slow, but I knew it would be worth it because I was adding in a few special touches just for him. His tattoo and necklace gave me a few ideas, so I was having fun being creative with that.

Speaking of Yami, it just occurred to me that I was supposed to be going to look at some shoes with him later on this afternoon. Believe it or not, I actually did end up asking him where he got his boots, and he decided he'd just take me to the shop and show me himself. I probably should have been getting ready, but I was feeling too lazy to move.

"Yugi," Mai came into the den where I had been dozing off for the past hour. She was holding her phone in one hand and a slip of paper in the other. "I'm going to order pizza for you to eat tonight because Ryou's having a friend come over."

"Which friend?" I asked lazily, rubbing my head against one of the couch pillows.

"I think it's probably Marik. Anyways," she flipped her hair over her shoulder, "Joey is supposed to stop by later to borrow a few of our movies, so just keep an eye out for him. I'm going to go out for a bit with Duke, so I won't be home until later, okay?"

I rubbed at my eye, mentally groaning about Marik being here. He was one of Ryou's best friends and had been since they were little. He was a tanned guy with platinum blonde hair, lilac eyes, and a toned body. His personality usually threw me for a loop, but I got along with him well enough. Although, there were moments when I wanted to beat him with a club because he teased me to the extreme and liked to pretend that he had a crush on me.

"Yeah, okay," I answered her eventually. "I'm going out with Yami in a bit."

Mai looked surprised. "Oh, well, he can come back over to the house once you guys are done. I can order another box of pizza so we have enough. Do you know what toppings he likes?"

"Uh…" my eyes rolled to the side in thought. I'm pretty sure he mentioned it to me once. "I think he likes cheese with black olives."

Mai stared at me for a second before nodding her head. "Okay, well, I'll call them later then."

"Thanks," I grabbed the money she offered to me. "Guess I'll see you later."

"Alright, but hey, don't go doing something crazy, yeah?"

"Heh. Sure."

* * *

"Congratulations, you've just joined the 76% of Americans who forget to stretch before doing any physical activity."

I cracked up at Yami's impersonation of Tony Perkis from the movie _Heavyweights_. We had been talking about old movies while I was trying on shoes and that particular one had come up. I hardly remembered the quotes from it, but Yami seemed to have a pretty good memory.

"What's something else he said?" I asked, taking off a pair of boots that was too heavy for my liking.

Yami reached for a new box in my size and handed it to me. "Attention campers. Lunch has been cancelled due to lack of hustle. Deal with it."

"Man, he was the best part about that movie. I didn't even realize until now that Ben Stiller was the one playing him."

"Yeah, his hair used to be really fluffy," Yami grinned. He leaned down and helped me get my heel into the black boot I was trying on. I was liking the style of this one. It was smooth and had a buckle design around the heel of it. "Here, try walking in those."

"I really like how these look," I told him as I got up and started walking up and down the aisle. Yami watched and made sure my foot wasn't sliding up and down. "They're pretty light too." After circling around a few more times I decided that they were the perfect fit. "What do you think? Do they look good and everything?"

Yami's eyes traveled from my face to my legs. He nodded his head a little. "You look really good in those… I mean!" His face flushed red. "They look good on you. You know, on your feet…"

I was biting my cheeks to keep myself from laughing as he kept floundering for the right words to say. It was kind of cute how flustered he was, fiddling with his hands and shifting his weight repeatedly. And hold the phone! Did I really just think that _Yami_ looked _cute_? As in, the word I'd call another guy that I had interest in?

"So, are you going to get them?" Yami asked, interrupting my rather… odd thought process.

"Oh, uh, yeah," I took the shoes off and put them back in the box. On the way to check out I couldn't help but feel like it was little awkward between us. Although, I'm pretty sure Yami felt the same way because he was being a little quiet.

Once I paid for the shoes we left the shop and started down the sidewalk. It was quiet at first, but then Yami grabbed my shoulder, making me look over at him. He was biting his lip a little and seemed like he was forcing himself to hold eye contact with me.

"Hey," he sighed a little shakily. "I'm sorry if what I said… if it made you uncomfortable. I didn't…"

I placed my hand on his shoulder and smiled. "Don't sweat it, okay? I didn't go all quiet on you because of what you said." I did it because of what I thought…

Yami looked at me in confusion. "If it wasn't that then -"

His voice was suddenly drowned out by the loud shout of, "Yugi!"

Startled from hearing my name, I spun around on my heels and was slightly shocked to see Mai's dad, Rory, walking briskly in our direction. He was a pretty young looking guy who had thick layered black hair, violet red colored eyes, and a tall frame that was held together by toned muscles. Personality wise he was one of the nicest guys I ever met.

"Hey, Rory, what are you doing down here?" I asked once he was within normal hearing distance.

He stopped in front of us, glancing at Yami briefly before answering, "I was just dropping my car off at the shop. It's been having a few problems," he shrugged in a 'what can you do' kind of way. "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met," he said to Yami, holding his hand out to him. "I'm Rory, Mai's dad."

I could already see the gears turning in Yami's head. He was trying to figure out exactly what Rory meant by that.

"Nice to meet you Rory. I'm Yami, Yugi's friend."

Rory's eyes seemed to spark. "A friend, huh? Well that's great! Are you boys stirring up trouble or something?" He glanced between us mischievously, sporting a small grin.

I laughed and shook my head. "Nope, nothing like that. I was just getting some new shoes," I held up the bag for him to see.

He rolled his eyes playfully. "You must be two of the only guys I know who'd willingly go shopping on their own accord."

Yami raised an eyebrow, but I could tell that he was amused.

"Anyways, I've got to get going. I've got to go down a few blocks and catch the bus. It was nice meeting you Yami," Rory smiled. "And Yugi, I'll probably stop by the house later this week. Mai wanted me to talk with Ryou about the," he glanced at Yami, "well, you know."

Oh. Right. "Yeah, okay, I'll see you then, I guess."

"Alright, catch you later!" He waved before crossing the street, soon disappearing around a building.

Yami waited until he was out of sight before nudging me in the arm. "What was that last bit about?" He asked, not bothering to mask his curiosity.

I sighed. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep the thing about my family a secret, especially since he was going over to my house now. He'd see a house that had some pictures in it, but the only people in the picture would be me, my siblings, and sometimes Rory. It's not like I could just put it off for the rest of forever.

"I'd rather tell you and Mana at the same time, but…"

"I can call her and tell her to meet us somewhere," Yami said, looking determined. "There's this place," he paused a second to shake his head a little. "This place that I usually go to when I want to think. It's by the river."

"Why am I not surprised?" I muttered.

He grinned a little. "Yeah, I know, it's very movie cliché sounding, isn't it?"

"Shoot yeah," I said, glancing at him. "I mean, I usually just go to my room when I need to think. Walking around outside never helps out my thought process any."

"Hm, well, maybe it will today."

I grabbed his wrist and dragged him beside me. "Doubt it, but you can keep on thinking it will."

Damn, he was blushing again. He really needed to stop doing that because it was making me feel a little too happy for it to be normal.

* * *

The sky was just starting to darken a little when we arrived at an old wooden bridge that was curved over the rushing river. I was kind of nervous about stepping on it because it looked like it would crumble if you touched it, but Yami went on across it like it was nothing, so I hesitantly followed after him.

He had already called Mana and told her what was going on. She was supposed to be here in a few minutes because she had to catch the bus. I think she probably started sprinting halfway here from her house because she was so eager to hear what I had to say, but Yami drove some sense into her, so she finally waited at a stop to catch a ride.

Since we figured we'd be here for a little while, Yami and I stopped at a gas station on the way over and bought a few small bag of chips and three Cokes. Mana's was a diet though. Apparently, she liked the taste of the diet ones better than the normal ones. Man, she was weird.

"I used to walk on the rail of this when I was younger," Yami said suddenly, startling me. "Want to see if I can still do it?"

I felt my eyes widen. "Hell no, your fat ass would probably make you lean towards your death."

Yami barked out a laugh, leaning coolly against the wood. "You think my butt is big?"

"Well, sure," I joked. "First time I saw it I thought, 'wow this guy must be making it his mission to buff his ass up to look like Rasputia's from the movie _Norbit_.'"

We both looked at each other and nearly fell to the ground laughing. Yami was red in the face and was trying to grasp the rail to keep his balance, but he kept missing it. I was holding onto his shoulder and resting one hand on my knee. About three minutes later we were both out of breath and were holding our stomachs because they were cramping from laughing too hard.

It was about that time that we heard footsteps coming up the wooden bridge, so we looked over and saw Mana running towards us. Her hair was, surprisingly, up in a ponytail and she was wearing a casual skirt and shirt.

"You guys are looking awful flushed," she commented, grinning widely. "Trying to sneak in the naughty stuff before I get here, huh? I see how it is."

I snorted and waved her off. "Yeah, you caught us. It was all Yami's idea though, I swear."

She cuffed me on the back of the head while Yami sputtered. "I don't believe it Mutou. It's always the innocent ones you've got to watch out for, after all."

"I thought that only applied in murder cases and sex scenarios," I grinned.

Yami took a seat so Mana and I did the same. "That's what they want you to think," she winked.

We all then started opening the snacks and our drinks. I took a few swigs of my Coke, enjoying the bubbly sensation in my throat. It helped to cool my nerves a little bit.

"So," Yami ended up breaking the silence. His voice had a more serious tone to it. "You wanted to tell us…"

"Yeah," I nodded, blowing my fringe out of my face. A few seconds passed where I tried to gather my thoughts. "Sorry, I'm trying to figure out where I should begin…"

Mana smiled patiently. "Take your time."

Leaning back on one hand, I prepared myself to talk about my mom. I wasn't sure if telling them was going to be hard or not. It's not like anyone other then my siblings knew about her and her habits. However, I trusted Yami and Mana, and I wasn't really scared they were going to make a big deal out of it.

"Well, I guess I'll just tell you some basic stuff to start off with," I said, looking them both in the eye. "First off, you should know that my mom doesn't live with me and my siblings. She hasn't since Mai turned eighteen." They both nodded a little, so I went on. "Secondly, you should know that me and my siblings all have different fathers. Yami, you met Mai's dad today. Ryou and I don't know who our dad's are." Ah, now they were starting to look a little shocked.

I took another sip of my Coke. "My mom isn't a very responsible person. She was always more interested in hooking up with men then taking care of the three of us, so we never saw her a lot. And over the years she hasn't really changed at all." I shrugged. "You guys remember that day I forgot to bring my Game Boy?"

"Yeah," they said simultaneously.

"Jinx, you owe each other a soda," I grinned.

They both stared and handed each other their Coke's before taking a sip and handing them back. I laughed and they just smiled.

"Anyways," I said. "I told you guys that I forgot about it because I was having some family problems. See, the night before that my mom was going to be visiting us. I mean, that in itself isn't really a big deal or anything, but…" I could tell that this would be the hardest thing to explain to them. "When me and Ryou got home from school… she um…" I swallowed. "She…"

I was slightly startled when Yami placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. He looked at me softly, gently urging me to go on.

"We found her in my room… with some guy. So, that was pretty shocking," I said quickly, noticing the change in their expressions. "But yeah, that's basically it." They seemed to catch onto the idea that my mom and the guy weren't just having a chat, or something simple like that. "I told her to get out and I haven't seen her since. Ryou is still pretty upset about it and I just don't feel like sleeping in my room yet."

"That's horrible," Mana said, clenching her fist. "I can't believe she disrespected you guys like that."

"Yeah, I don't know what the hell she was thinking," I ran a hand through my hair. "I guess I'll probably talk to her soon."

Yami finished off the chip he was eating. "Well, hey, if you need help, or you want to talk about it, whatever it is, you know you can tell us about it, right?"

Mana nodded. "And if you want us to come and throw her off your property for you -"

"Mana," Yami glared slightly.

She glared back, saying in a more forceful voice, "Then we will."

I smiled at them both, surprised, yet pleased, that they were there for me. I had never had someone else to lean on except my siblings, so it was weird knowing that I had two more people that I could trust with things like this.

"Thanks, guys," I leaned over on my knees and hugged them both around the neck.

"Hey," Mana grinned, ruffling my hair. "What are friends for, huh?"

Yami suddenly laughed. "For tickling the hell out of you." He then pounced on the both of us and started running his hands all over our stomachs, behind our necks, and under our armpits. I was super ticklish behind my neck so I squealed when he got me there.

Man, whoever said that laughter is the best medicine was right on the money. I felt way happier about the entire situation thanks to these guys.

"Okay, I give!" Mana finally cried out, smiling like an idiot. I probably looked the same.

"You better watch your back," I said, shoving Yami playfully. "We're going to get you back when you least expect it."

"So, when I'm peeing then?" Yami asked, grinning.

I snorted. "And risk you spraying us? I think not."

Mana rolled up her empty bag of chips and threw it at my head.

"Whoa, look how dark it got since we've been out here," Yami said, looking up at the sky.

Oh shit. "What time is it?"

Mana pulled out her phone. "Almost six."

"Crap! We've got to get back to the house," I stood after grabbing my bag and Coke. "You should come with us, Mana. We're going to eat pizza for dinner."

She grinned. "Don't mind if I do."

* * *

A/N - My heart wasn't in this halfway through, so that's why this chapter is a little late. The good thing is that I got my inspiration back after the whole Rory scene. Alright, everyone remember that the bridge is Yami's secret, favorite little spot, okay? It's going to be important later on.

Also, there was a little progress on Yugi's part in this. He thought Yami looked cute blushing. He's noticing him slowly, but surely.

Yo **Breana** there's going to be a lot more chapters. It takes time to think them out and to write them, okay? I'm not trying to be mean or anything, I just wanted to tell you because you kept asking.


	8. Nothing I Can Really Say

"Are they coming or what?" Ryou asked. His leg was bouncing impatiently, nearly colliding with the wheel of the car. "I've got to get started on a project for my science class."

I rubbed at my eye and sighed. "Hold your horses, they'll get here when they get here."

Ryou rolled his eyes and thunked his head against the headrest. He was getting irritated because Yami and Mana had gotten caught up in one of their classes. They were supposed to meet us at the car after school so that Ryou could drive us to Yami's house. We were just going to hang out there for a while and maybe -but probably not- do some homework.

"Lighten up," I said, fiddling with the air conditioner. "You don't want them to think you're some whiney ass, do you?"

"No," Ryou mumbled. "But they should get to know my moods. It may save their skin one day if they can tell not to disturb me during a certain time."

I smacked his bicep. "You can't be snippy with my friends. It's illegal."

"Are you kidding me?" He exclaimed, turning in his seat to look at me properly. "You're a little devil to Marik every time he comes over."

"Yeah, because he gropes me and starts humping my butt every time I turn my back to him!"

Ryou snorted. "You just don't know how to have a good time."

I opened my mouth to say something, but then decided against it and closed it. Ryou stared at me and I stared back. It was turning out to be a pretty impressive competition until the back door opened and Mana's loud voice ruined our concentration.

"Never fear, Mana is here!"

Ryou looked over his shoulder and offered a smile. "Hey, what took you guys so long?"

I jabbed him in the side and he threw me a look before returning his attention to the back where Yami was just getting in.

"Sorry," Yami said, buckling himself in. "Got stuck talking to the librarian."

Ryou shifted his eyes to Mana. "What's your excuse missy?"

"Ryou…" I mumbled, embarrassed.

Mana just laughed it off. "Well, if you must know, I was getting a volleyball out of a tree for a few of the sophomores."

"Spiderchick!" Ryou exclaimed suddenly, pulling out of the parking lot. Before we could get another word in he turned up the radio. "I love this song!"

Man, he was acting weird.

* * *

The inside of Yami's house was incredibly tidy. As in, I could see my face in the hardwood floor clean. Every surface was free of dust, all the rooms were filled with sunlight that poured in from the windows, and there was bright splashes of color everywhere mixed in with more subtle tones. I only thought these kinds of places existed in magazines, but apparently not.

"I think my mom might be pulling weeds in the back," Yami said, dumping his bag in a kitchen chair.

Mana and I followed his example, setting our stuff down and then following him out a back door. The backyard wasn't nearly as neat as the front yard, but maybe that was just because the garden in the front drew most of your attention when you came up to it.

Off to the side I could hear someone humming. A thin woman, who looked to be just a little shorter than Yami and myself, was bent over the grass. She was wearing gloves, rain boots, khaki shorts that went down to her knee's, a white top with a blue pattern on it, and a sunhat. Even with the hat on I could see that she had short black hair that seemed to curl around her ears and straighten out towards her neck. Her skin was a little golden, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was just from spending hours outside attending to her garden.

"Mom, I'm home," Yami said, walking towards her.

Mana grabbed my wrist and just stood on the patio, so I stayed with her. We waited and watched as Yami's mom looked up from her work and smiled. From here I could see that she had big blue eyes. They didn't look anything like Yami's, so I'm guessing he took after his father in the looks department. Speaking of, I wasn't exactly sure where his father was. I knew he only lived with his mom, so I wasn't sure if his dad had died already, or if it was something more like a divorce.

"Yami, you should have warned me you were having a new friend come over! I would have had some snacks and lemonade ready!" His mom said while taking off her gloves. She tucked them into her pocket and walked towards us with Yami trailing behind her. "Hi!" She smiled and held her hand out to me. "I'm Yami's mom! Oh, but you can just call me Mrs. Rina."

I grabbed her hand and almost let out a squeak at how firm her grip was. It felt like one of my knuckles had popped!

"Nice to meet you, I'm Yugi Mutou," I offered her a smile, startled when she suddenly tightened her grip and clasped the top of my hand with her other one.

"You don't say!" She said, looking amazed and what not. "Does your mother's name happen to be Karin? Karin Mutou? Dark hair, violet eyes?"

I instantly froze up upon hearing her name. A million things ran through my mind just then. Things like: how does she know my mom, does she know what my mom does, are they friends, is she going to tell my mom that I was here? It was like a mini panic attack in my head. Even Yami and Mana seemed to stiffen since I had told them about my family life.

I tried to smile, but I knew it looked phony. "Yeah, that's her alright." A little more meekly, I added, "how do you know her?"

"Well," she placed her hand on my shoulder and started walking inside the house. Yami and Mana trailed behind quietly. "You wouldn't believe it, but me and her used to go to school together!" She suddenly scrunched her eyebrows. "Wait a second, her maiden name is Mutou, so did your father just let her keep her last name?"

This was starting to get awkward. The worst part was that she didn't even seem to notice it. "Yeah," I said a little too quietly for my liking. "He had a real lousy last name, so they decided to just keep hers." I felt bad for lying, but I didn't really want to tell her the truth.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Yami narrowing his eyes slightly. Mana had a hand to her forehead and looked like she was going to start smacking herself with it.

"Wow, isn't that just something?" She laughed and started washing her hands in the kitchen sink. "Listen, you'll have to give me her number. I'd love to catch up with her sometime. We weren't the best of friends or anything, but I think it would be fun to talk to her again."

Shit, I didn't even know her number. "Sure thing, I'll write it down before I leave." Yeah, I'd just have to text Mai and ask her for it because I had no clue.

"Great! Well, if you're sticking around then I'll make something for you guys."

Yami smiled. "Thanks mom, we'll just be in my room."

"Okay, I'll call you down when it's ready!"

Yami grabbed my wrist and pulled me after him. Mana bounced beside us, singing some old song that used to be mainstream. We went up a flight of stairs and ended up going into a room on the right.

Inside there was a king sized bed underneath a window that had black curtains hanging from it. There was a dark wood dresser adjacent to the bed and it had a small flat screen TV sitting on top of it. The walls were a cream color and didn't have a lot of decorations on them. Some clothes were strewn around the room, which surprised me, because it was the messiest part of the house that I had seen so far.

"What are the odds, huh?" Mana said, launching herself onto Yami's bed. "I can't believe she knows your old lady, Yugi."

I took a seat at the edge of the bed, careful not to hit her feet. "Definitely wasn't expecting it, that's for sure."

"Are you actually going to write her number down for her?" Yami asked. He kicked his shoes off somewhere near his dresser.

I laughed a little. "Is it bad if I said I don't actually know her number?"

Mana's eyes widened. "What! How do you not know it?"

I shrugged. "Don't know. Never really thought about it." Yami plopped down beside me, putting his feet near Mana's head. I wiggled up more and put my legs over Mana's and then rested my head against Yami's stomach. Damn his stomach was hard. "The hell, Yami…" I leaned away from him slightly and prodded at him with my finger. "You're too firm to be comfortable."

He laughed and it made my head bounce with the movement of his torso. "If you want comfort then you should lay your head on Mana's chest."

Mana smacked his ankle. "You pervert! Boobs are not meant to be your personal headrest!"

I grinned and turned my head so I could look at her. "When I was a kid I thought boobs were like built in pillows. So whenever I was around a female I'd ask if I could lay my head on her pillows."

Yami snorted and started laughing. "Y-You…" He couldn't even talk properly.

"That's like a little kid pick up line!" Mana shrieked. "Both of you are perverts!"

"Oh come on, I'm sure girls that age think something similar," I said.

"Yeah," Yami agreed. He started twisting one of my bangs around his finger. It was so soothing that it was making me feel a little drowsy. "I'm sure you had your own fun when you were a kid. Like kicking your brother in the balls just to see him in pain."

Mana cackled. "Good times… good times…" She suddenly groaned and kicked my legs off hers. "Damn, I think I just started my period."

Yami wrinkled his nose. "On my bed?"

"Well, I don't think it leaked through my pants yet…" Mana said. She wiggled off the mattress and made a weird squatting motion. "I don't think I've got anything, so I'm going to go ask your mom for some stuff."

"Don't bleed out on your way," I said.

She gave me the finger and scurried out of the room.

"Women," Yami said, rolling his eyes.

"Tell me about it…" I laughed and snuggled my head further into his stomach, causing him to make some weird snort like sound.

"That tickles," he said, placing a hand on the back of my head. He wound his fingers into my hair, ensuring that I wouldn't be able to do it again. That didn't stop me from trying though. "Ack, Yugi!"

"Yes?" I asked innocently, grabbing both of his wrists. I fought to push his arms back so that I could get more control over the situation. It was pretty useless though because he was a lot stronger than me. In my effort to overpower him, I had pushed myself up onto his chest, and he was now holding my arms crossed over my ribcage, keeping me pinned down.

He put his head down by my ear and blew a bunch of air into it. I shivered and squirmed while he laughed. He did it again and I was forced to press the side of my head down into his collar bone.

"Face it, you're at my mercy," he said. I could tell he was grinning by the tone he used.

I stretched my head back and grazed his neck with my teeth. "I won't give that easily!" It took him a moment to respond. I'm guessing he wasn't expecting me to actually try and bite him.

In a sudden turn of events, he threw one of his legs over mine and flipped himself over me so that I was pressed against him and the mattress. My arms were stuck against his chest so I couldn't move them, and my legs were mostly pinned down by his thighs.

Whoa, was it just me, or was it getting hot in here? Even my heart was racing faster than it should have been.

"I don't think you have a choice," Yami said, leaning down close to my face. The tips of his bangs were brushing the edges of my jaw, making me feel the need to rub my face against something solid to get rid of the tingling sensation.

"Alright," I wheezed. He was seriously starting to crush me. "You win, you win!"

A small spark of amusement lit up in his eyes before he rolled off of me. "As always."

We laid next to each other and tried to catch our breaths. "Not fair. You're bigger than me."

He rolled his eyes. "Hardly."

I nudged him a little, suddenly noticing the way he was holding his legs. It reminded me of a game I used to play with Ryou.

"Put your knee's up to your chest," I said, crawling over to him.

"What, why?"

"Just do it!"

He stared at me for a second before he slowly brought his knee's up. I crawled around him and placed my stomach on his feet. "Now hold my hands," I said, offering them to him. He slowly grabbed them in his own. "You never done this before, or something?" I asked.

"Not really, no…" he said, still looking completely confused. His cheeks were starting to heat up again.

"I think it's called airplane. You just push your legs out and keep me balanced in the air. Your hands are supporting the upper part of my body and your feet are supporting my lower body."

"Oh, okay," he said, testing it out. He started pushing his legs out, causing my body to rise into the air. His arms also pushed mine up, making me go higher. "Like this?"

I would have answered, but I was kind of distracted by the veins sticking out in his arms. I never really noticed before, but he had some really nice arms. It was just hardened muscle all the way through. Not to mention his hands. Hell, they were bigger than mine.

Unconsciously, my eyes started following the course of his arms down to his neck, then to his face. I was kind of startled to see him watching me. His garnet colored eyes were locked onto my face, observing it intently. They were shadowed just like the few times I had seen them before, and I would be lying if I said they didn't draw me in.

"Your eyes are really… cool," I said quietly, watching how his eyes dropped to my mouth.

He brought his head to his shoulder and rubbed his temple against it. "Thanks." His atom apple became more distinct for a brief second while he swallowed. "I like yours better though."

I could tell that my cheeks were starting to turn pink because they started to get real hot. It didn't really matter because Yami's cheeks looked the same.

I was just starting to notice his high cheek bones and narrow nose when, all of a sudden, his legs gave out from underneath me, causing me to nearly knock my head into his. I ended up just falling to the side. My face collided with my arms because Yami was still holding onto my hands.

We both groaned at the painful position, and quickly released each other. There was hardly any time to feel awkward because Mana happened to barge in just then.

"All better!" She chirped, hopping onto the bed. "Did you miss me?"

Yami and I glanced at each other before looking back at her.

"Why are you both so quiet?" She asked. "And… why are both of you all red?"

I was kind of wondering the same thing…

* * *

"Well someone looks down in the dumps."

I sighed and closed Ryou's door. "I'm not down, I'm confused."

Ryou, who was already in bed, put his book down and crossed his arms over his chest. His long hair was tied up, and his bangs were hanging loosely over his reading glasses.

"About what?"

I pulled my shirt off and got in beside him, making sure I was covered with a blanket before I answered him. "Emotions and… stuff."

"Oh?" Ryou inquired, hitching his eyebrow up.

"Yeah. You know Yami, right?"

Ryou rolled his eyes. "Yes, Yugi. I didn't forget about him in the last four hours."

I decided to ignore his sarcastic tone. "Well, he's making me weird."

"He's 'making you weird?'" He repeated, turning over so that he was facing me fully. "Kid, I'm going to ask you to be blunt, okay? You can't say stuff like that and expect me to know what you're getting at."

I couldn't help but fidget. Talking about these kinds of things was just not something I was comfortable with, or used to.

"I don't really know, alright? Me and Yami were just messing around in his room while Mana… was in the bathroom, and I just starting noticing things. Like, things I've never really thought too much about with him. And then he said something about my eyes and I started blushing! Ryou, what the hell is wrong with me!"

I grabbed onto his sleeve, looking to him in my confusion. He was more experienced in these kind of matters, so I was just hoping he'd know what was going on. One minute I'm completely fine, and the next, I'm looking at Yami's face and thinking too much about it. Is that something friends did? Friends could just observe each other, right? That was totally normal. Holy hell, maybe I'm just blowing this entire thing out of proportion.

Ryou brought me out of my thoughts by shaking my shoulder. "You need to chill out and stop stressing about this. Now," he held up two fingers. "There's two possible reasons for this development. For one thing, you're gay. That means it's natural for you to check out other guys. Yami's a good looking guy, so it's not a surprise that some of his attributes may appeal to you."

"He does have nice arms…" I mumbled.

"You like that in guys, yeah? See, that's just something that adds to him. However, physical character is not the only thing to a person, correct? The personality is the other, more important factor. And you said you blushed after he complimented you. Some people will take comments like that in stride and just accept and forget about it. Others are embarrassed or flattered by the comment, hence the reason for blushing."

"Okay, can you sum all that up, please?"

"Hold on," he said. "Reason number two: you're starting to crush on him. His appeal for you is pretty obvious, and you haven't really thought about looking at him in that kind of light. He's your first guy friend, so it's understandable that you want to keep him as just that. A friend."

"Ugh, Ryou…" I ran my hands over my face. "I don't think I feel anything so intense like that. I mean, sure, I've had a few thoughts and some fleeting feelings, but I highly doubt I'm suddenly falling for him. Maybe I'm just curious, you know? He's the first guy, other than you and Marik, that I've really gotten more touchy with."

"Yeah, it could just be that mixed in with the fact that you're gay. Maybe most guys just make you flustered when you get attached to them because there's a potential attraction."

"Hell, maybe everything is just normal and I'm making it seem like something else entirely," I said, rubbing at my eyes.

"Could be," Ryou yawned. "How about you let it go for now, okay? You can figure it out some more the next time you see him. Try a few things out with him to test it, but don't do a massive thing and make a dick move by making him think you have interest in him. See if he does anything that makes you feel like you got butterflies in your stomach. I don't know, you've got to just feel things out, you know?"

"Yeah, okay. That sounds like the best plan of action."

"Awesome," Ryou said, yawning once again. "Now that I've given you my brotherly advice of the century, let's get some shut eye." He reached over and turned off his lamp.

I shuffled down further under the blankets and nestled my head under my pillow. "Hey, Ryou…"

He turned his head towards me. "Yeah?"

I grinned. "I take back what I said. You're actually pretty smart."

"Aw!" He poked my ribs. "What a tender moment!" He then punched me in the shoulder. "Don't ever compliment me for my intelligence again, it creeps me the hell out."

I laughed and rubbed at my now sore arm. "Sure thing, Ry. Sure thing."

* * *

A/N - So both of them took rather big steps in this chapter. I think it's about time because I'm starting to get bored of having them dance around each other. In the next chapter, Yugi will be experiment with his true feelings for Yami. He'll probably come to a slight, but not entire revelation. We're still taking this slow, even though I want to speed it up…

P.S. - I've got a new story idea that I'll probably be writing and posting either after this story is finished, or near the end of it. If you're interested then I can tell you now that the pairing will be Yugi/Atem. However, they are already going to be boyfriends. Also, Yami is going to be in the story, but he's Yugi's cousin and they live together. That's all I'm going to share.

Anyways, thanks for all who have reviewed! Please leave a comment in the review section letting me know what you thought about this chapter. Thanks!


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